


The Space Between the Earth and the Sky

by Eizavie



Category: Tales of Berseria, Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst and Humor, Drama, Fluff and Smut, Multi, Sex, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-08
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-09-30 19:27:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10170149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eizavie/pseuds/Eizavie
Summary: "Sometimes to kill is to save." Even if it's the most important person to you.(Post Berseria)  Eizen and Zaveid's relationship over their eight hundred years together, along with the friends they made and the adventures they went on.





	1. Smell of the Ocean

            “But I’ll only kill you once you’ve stopped being yourself…Only then.”

            “You sure?” Eizen is taken aback---was Zaveid finally able to come to his senses?

            “Yeah, I swear by my true name, Fylk Zahdeya…Zaveid the Oathkeeper.”

 

Eizen takes a few steps forward and flips Siegfried in his hand and presents the pistol’s handle toward Zaveid.

 

“Ufemew Wexub…That’s my true name.”

 

_And so a promise was made—one that would be fulfilled one thousand years later._

 

            Laphicet tried to process all of what happened—to take direction of one’s own life is something that Eizen had taught him and it was something he wanted to make sure he did to the fullest after seeing what had happened to Theodora. He watched Zaveid go but in a brief second the wind Malak stumbled and collasped.

“Zaveid!” Laphicet cried, he rushed over to him. “What’s wrong? Hey!” The young Malak could hear footsteps approach behind him.

“He probably pushed himself too hard, he did get knocked around a lot.” Eizen knelt beside Laphicet and shoved the wind Malak’s shoulder lightly. Out cold. He knew something was off when Zaveid swayed a little as he walked away. The blonde sighed, sure the whole ordeal with Theodora was traumatizing but to faint right after making such an oath with him. Eizen smirked, how uncool. “I guess we can bring him to an inn.”

“Eizen…!” Laphicet gave a small smile.

“Although, I’m sure he won’t appreciate it.” He scooped up the wind Malak hoisted him onto his back.

“One minute you hate each other’s guts and the next you’re buddies, I can’t understand you guys.” Rokurou shook his head.

“Any who, today was a long day.” Eleanor brought a hand to her chest and sighed. “ I think we could _all_ use a rest at an inn!”

“Yes, agreed.” Velvet said, crossing her arms.

“Okay! Let’s hike back down this mountain!” Magilou cried enthusiastically as she twirled. “I heard Stonebury’s got some great risotto!”

  

* * *

 

 

Zaveid blurrily blinked a few times as he tried to get his vision to focus on the ceiling. His head was throbbing, and his chest and stomach were fantastically sore. His eyes wander around the room and his gaze blurrily sets on a blurry Eizen hanging up his coat.

“How you feeling?” He asked as he adjusted his sleeves.

“I’ve been better.” The wind Malak said gruffly. He cleared his throat. “How long was I out for?”

“It’s only been half a day but it’s getting pretty late. I came by to change your bandages.”

“Bandage?” Zaveid sits up and winces at the pain. His chest and stomach are wrapped up with gauze.

“You had a pretty big gash on your side under your clothes, we didn’t notice it till you passed out. Laphicet healed what he could but he was tired from the battle…”

“I see…It’s fine, it’ll heal on it’s own.”

“I’m already here, lift up your arms, or do I have to force you?”

 

            Zaveid hated that condescending tone Eizen spoke with but he did as he was told with a click his tongue, he raised his arms a bit as Eizen undid the bandages. Upon removing them he peaked down at himself and found the harsh bruises on his torso. Eizen leaned over to grab something from the nightstand, a bottle of some sort of vulnerary and a clean cloth. His tiredness was short-lived when he felt his wounds being wiped by a cold cloth, he wasn’t sure how he missed Eizen emptying the bottle onto it but damn did it sting. He bit his lower lip as he waited for the other to finish cleaning off the wounds. He stared at the dark green blanket covering him, images of the day come flooding back into his mind and suddenly, he feels terribly lonely.

            “That should do it.” Eizen pulled back and after examining his work. “Don’t do anything strenuous for awhile.

            “Mm.” Zaveid said, his eyes on the bed. “We at Stonebury?”

            “Yeah.” Eizen pulls up a chair from a desk in the corner of the room and sits next to the bed. “Laphicet didn’t want to leave you there on the field.”

            “Hah, he’s a real nice kid.” Zaveid smiled fondly.

“Aye, you wouldn’t believe it but when I first met him he had no personality or will of his own---he’s grown up into a fine young man in this short amount of time.”

“Is that right?” Zaveid said. He expected Eizen to continue the conversation or say something else but he didn’t---after a couple moments of silence Zaveid shifted uncomfortably not knowing why Eizen was just…sitting there.

            “Uh so-“

            “I wanted to apologize.” Eizen said finally.

            “Huh?”

            “I don’t regret what I did but upon reflecting…my words might have been too harsh so for that I’m sorry. Theodora was important to you so I should’ve been more understanding.”

 

His azure blue eyes didn’t stray from staring at Zaveid’s. Conviction. Eizen’s was almost too overbearing for the wind Malak. Zaveid nervously laughed.

            “It’s over with.” He sighed and closed his eyes. “Sometimes to kill is to save someone…I understand that now.

            “If you wish to grieve I’ll leave.” Eizen said.

           

Zaveid is taken aback. “Hah… I’m fine. I’ve accepted it.”

 

He forces a laugh again but then suddenly he feels it. All the guilt and sadness building up inside his chest. He takes in a shaky breath and watches Eizen’s shadow as the Malak gets up to go. He doesn’t know why but suddenly his hand shoots out and grabs a hold of Eizen’s. Zaveid doesn’t sob or make noise. Only silent tears fall down onto the bed, his head is bowed low. He misses her so much. The past few years had completely turned his world upside down. His body feels so numb.

Truth be told Eizen doesn’t know what to do as he looks down at the other. Hug him? Pat his head? He would if this was his sister or maybe Laphicet but the action seemed strange to him to do it with Zaveid. He sits back down on the chair and lays his other hand on top of Zaveid’s. He watched as orange eyes look up to meet his and they stare at each other for a long while---by some instinct or unknown force he leans forward and kisses Zaveid. _What the._ The wind Malak freezes as Eizen pulls back in a huff.

“W-What’re you…” Zaveid’s voice stutters a little bit and then suddenly Eizen cups both sides of Zaveid’s head and mashes his mouth against the other--kissing him again with such force that the wind Malak makes an alarmed noise. He must be dreaming cause nothing made sense, not the fact that they were kissing or that Eizen was sliding his hand against his hip and squeezing his thigh. Eizen nips Zaveid’s neck and smoothes a hand down his stomach and curls his fingers around the belt buckle---he halts.

 

 _What am I doing?!_ Eizen quickly retreats. He slides off the bed and avoids Zaveid’s gaze—instead looking at the wooden floor. “You should get some rest.” He mutters before exiting the room.

 

There’s no mention of what happened the following day. Zaveid briefly thanks the group for the hospitality and wishes them good luck on their battle against Artorious.

 

* * *

 

The next time Eizen and Zaveid run into each other is after the final battle.

 

The Aifread pirates prepare to port and the crew scurries around the deck. Eizen watches them from above where he sits on the ships mast, though they couldn’t see Eizen anymore the Malak still stayed on the Van Eltia and helped in whatever way he could. Benwick still had a small amount of resonance, just enough to feel Eizen’s presence faintly at times. If there was anything Eizen really needed to communicate he would write something down on a notepad and slip it to the new captain. Other times when he was bored he played ghostly pranks on the crew—they were always startled but knowing that Eizen was still with them kept them in high spirits. One docked he decided to revisit Taliesin since it had been over a year since his last visit; when walking to the town square he saw a familiar figure at the weapons stand.

“Rokurou?”

“Hm? Whoa, Eizen! How ya been?!” The swordsman practically yelled. The merchant looked at Rokurou like he was crazy—Afterall he was talking to the air from his view but the swordsman hitched a thumb over to wear the Malak stood and told the man of Eizen’s presence. Since Laphicet had become the new Empyrean almost everyone who hadn’t had resonance prior to the Opening had lost their ability to perceive Malakim once more.

“What’re you doing here?” Eizen asked.

“Been wandering from place to place trying to find a nice challenge to match my skills. I’ll never become as strong as Shigure if I don’t look for other great swordsman but---well no luck. Oh yeah, guess who I’m meeting up with later.”

“Hm?”  
            “Bumped into Zaveid! He said he’s checking up on his family but wanted to have a drink at the tavern tonight. Apparently the barkeep over there still has resonance!”

Interesting. He would be lying to himself if he didn’t admit that he was at least a bit curious to meet the wind Malak again. It wasn’t often that he associated with those of his own kind.

   Later at night the two enter the tavern and find the wind Malak sitting alone with a glass of whiskey—He spots the two and invites them to sit and ordered a round of drinks for them. Eizen briefly wonders if Zaveid had forgotten about that kiss that happened but doesn’t dare ask. They chat about their recent endeavor and the two gave the wind Malak the details of their battle against Innominat and Artorious. He listened intently and with great interest.

“So that’s what happened, huh? Gotta admit I’m a bit sad for Velvet, but that was her choice, right? Maybe the kiddo is watching over them.”

“I’m sure, they’re all part of the same being in a sense.” Eizen sips his beer. “She was smiling at the end.”

“I see. Well, congrats on defeating the Abbey and saving the world I guess!” He proposed a toast with the other two and came up with the idea of having a drinking contest to congratulate their endeavor. Of course the swordsman and pirate obliged and they drank until late into the night. Every time he had a drinking contest Eizen swore to himself that he would never do it again. Today was a bigger challenge since it wasn’t just Rokurou he was competing against, Zaveid knew how to hold is liquor just as well as the other two. At the end no one knew who the victor was, he just knows his head is spinning and Zaveid is under the table half asleep and Rokurou is singing some annoying tune. Seeing as they’re the only patrons left the barkeeper asks if the two of them could kindly take Zaveid home--- _He must visit here often_ , Eizen thinks. He hoists himself up and kicks Zaveid in the side, calling for him to get up. The wind Malak doesn’t budge and Eizen begrudgingly kneels down and drags him up.

            Eizen wobbles out of the tavern with Zaveid on his back and Rokurou changes from singing to humming, they all stink of alcohol. There’s a nice spring breeze outside and it thankfully lets Eizen’s head clear a little. The streets are quiet and it’s peaceful as the three of them walk in the direction of the “Spring Breeze” home. Zaveid stirs on Eizen’s back and mumbles something against his shoulder.

 

            “Hm?” Eizen side eyes him. “Better not throw up on me.”

            “..ra…dora..” Zaveid sniffs.

            “Huh?”

            “Theo…dora.” He sleepily whimpers.

 

Eizen’s footsteps come to a halt when he feels wet tears trickle onto his neck. He takes in a heavy breath as a gust of cold air hits them. Rokurou approaches his side and asks what’s wrong but Zaveid doesn’t answer. He wonders---it could be the anniversary of her death but Eizen isn’t entirely sure. He continues walking toward the home and quietly whispers an apology that Zaveid can’t hear…

 

_He hears seagulls out in the distance and the air smells like the ocean. He’s not aware of his exact destination but he stands on a cape overlooking the sea. It’s overwhelmingly bright outside and the waves calmly crash on the boulders below. Ahead of him, at the edge of the cape’s edge, is a woman. She has long forest green hair and a dark dress; she gazes out at the sea. Eizen approaches her slowly, wanting to ask her where he is, when she turns her eyes are a deep green and she smiles at him fondly, she’s beautiful—he’s never met her before in his life but she seems so familiar. The woman says something to him but he can’t hear her over the ocean’s waves. He desperately wants to know what she’s saying but every time she speaks her voice is carried off by the wind._

 

 

“Ha!” Rokurou swings a wooden blade down and repeats the action, his daily training unchanged since Eizen met him. Honestly, he doesn’t know how the guy still got up so early to train after they all had so much to drink yesterday. The sound of his grunts eventually force Eizen from his slumber on Ben and Salphi’s couch. The couple had been kind enough to let the two of them sleep over after Rokurou explained the situation to them. Although the couple couldn’t see Zaveid anymore they could still feel his presence just as Benwick could with Eizen. The earth Malak steps outside and sees that the kids are imitating the samurai by swinging some tree branches. He sits on a nearby bench and absently watches Rokurou train. He tries to remember his dream but his mind is fuzzy. Minutes later Zaveid steps out of the home with two mugs of coffee in hand and plops down next to Eizen.

 

            “Coffee?” Zaveid offers.

            “Mm.” Eizen mumbles and sleepily takes it from the wind Malak. There’s a lot of sugar and cream in it.

“So--did I black out? I don’t remember even getting here…”

            “You were pretty much done at the tavern—carried you back here with Rokurou.”

            “Damn, sorry bout’ that.”

            “Don’t worry about it.” Eizen takes a long drink of his coffee. “Did you decide to stay here again?”

            “Naw, just making a visit. Probably leave in another day or so, I just wanted to see how the kids were doing—also got a hankering for some of Saliph’s baked goods. You gotta try her apple pie; she’s baking it now!

            “Ah, I see.” He looks far out into the sea. “The crew can’t see me anymore either but even so it’s still like nothing’s changed ---if you’re up to it…do you want to join us?”

            “...Huh?”

            “The crew, we could use a wind Malak on board---in case we run into any trouble at sea. We travel the world and look for treasures, lots of sightseeing and some battles to go along with it. Might be nice of you to see the kind of guys Aifread picked up too.”

            Zaveid is silent for a few moments; he had been traveling alone for the past year by himself. He still kept Siegfried in his jacket, not having to use it once since the last time he had fought Velvet’s group. He had wandered toward Innominat’s throne to find Laphicet, or rather Maotelus, there in his white dragon form. He didn’t stay long, not wanting to disrupt whatever purification process he was doing with his new flame. But in that brief time he told Zaveid of the true nature of Siegfried and the existence of special bullets that could utilize its power. He visited several ruins for them but came up empty handed. Perhaps by traveling with Eizen who could find them…and truth be told he was lonely traveling on his own. He takes in a long breath and sits back.

            “Yeah sure, why not? Might be fun.”

            “Heh, I can guarantee you it is.” He finishes his coffee and continues to watch Rokurou. The wind picks up a little bit causing the swordsman’s bangs to flick up revealing his malevolent markings on his face.

            “Been wondering, why’s he still a daemon?”

            “Maotelus’ purification doesn’t cure all malevolence, if it’s a form that you choose then not even the silver flame can cleanse it. You can’t change who you are deep inside…but I have to say he’s a lot different from other daemons.”

            “He’s a pretty down to earth guy. Gotta say he’s a nice kid, good drinking buddy too.”

            “You’re still kind of a kid too, probably why you both get along.”

            “I’m a mature man, thank you very much. Plus you’re not that much older than me I’m sure.”

            “I probably have a few hundred years on you.”

            “Feh, years are just numbers---it’s all in the mind” Zaveid points to himself. “And the _bodeh_ ’”

            “What are you, four hundred?”

            “Six hundred!”

            “Twice the age of my sister?” He scoffs. “I’m just a few years over a thousand.”

            “Shit, really?” Zaveid’s eyes widen, he grumbles a little bit. “Didn’t think you were that much older than me…Does your sister travel with you on the ship?”

            “You’re _not_ marrying my sister.”

Zaveid gives a hearty chuckle. “Yeah, yeah we’ll see.”

            “She lives back at home…I don’t see her often because of my curse.”

            “Hm? Don’t you miss her?”

            “I do. But every time I visit I put her in danger, it’s better if I stay away.”

            “Oh.” Zaveid doesn’t say anything more than that; instead he drinks some of his coffee.

            Saliph calls all of them back to the house and sets up the table for them all to eat. An alluring array of baked treats and a large quiche are set down. The kids, and Rokurou, dig in right away. Eizen takes a slice of the apple pie and has a bite, it was delicious. The kids laugh and point at the disappearing food and ask Rokurou to act as liaison between them and the Malaks during their breakfast.

            During their leave Zaveid asks the yaksha to tell Arwell, Burd and Foo that he promises to visit again soon and to make sure they keep eating a lot to grow up big and strong. The kids are sad to hear him leave but understand. Foo walks up to an invisible Zaveid and tries to give him a hug, she can’t really feel him but there’s a warm wind that surrounds her in an embrace. The parting is bittersweet but he knows they’re in good hands.

 


	2. Hesitation

Benwick welcomes Rokurou on board the Van Eltia. The rest of the crew is also excited to see him again after so long---they’re even more excited now that someone has come on board who had resonance with Eizen. Though, Rokurou forewarned that how long he stayed with them would depend on how many decent challenges he would get out of it. They gave what information they knew about the current state of the world to Rokurou. The people’s trust in the Abbey had fallen ever since the disappearance of Artorious and the Legates—However, Eleanor had taken to using some of the Abbey’s resources to start her own branch of goodwill. Some called her the new Shepherd, other’s weren’t so trusting of her after her supposed betrayal. But she, unlike a majority of the other exorcists, retained her resonance and was often aided by unseen Malaks. Rokurou became a bit worried but knew that Eleanor was a very capable woman, and it was certain that they would all cross paths again at some point. Unfortunately no one had heard from Magilou but it was assumed that she was keeping tabs on what was happening in the shadows.

Zaveid walks around the ship with child-like curiosity, he wanted to see just what type of vessel Aifread had made his own. The Van Eltia wasn’t like anything he had ever seen, it’s technology and craftsmanship seemed to be second to none. He wanders to the front of the ship and stares out into the open sea.

“Nice, right? Used to stand here a lot with Aifread and just watch the waves roll by.” Eizen places himself next to Zaveid and crosses his arms. “A good three years I had with that man, it’s funny---such little time has impacted my life more than the other hundreds of years I’ve lived.”

“Sometimes that’s all it takes, right?” Zaveid grins. “Wish I could’ve finished that fight with him. He was an amazing guy for a human.”

“Aye, strong as any Malak or daemon out there. Some humans are born with great talent---it’s too bad their lives are so short.” He turns around and leans against the ships railing as he looks at the crew. “But you know…I think because their lives are fleeting humans struggle as much as they can with the time they have...it’s kind of beautiful in a way.” The blonde smiles fondly.

Zaveid can agree, being with the human family brought great joy to Theodora and him. Malakim couldn’t have children so that was the next best thing, he recalls how motherly she acted towards them...they were a real family. He takes in a deep breath and spins on his heel to face the sea. It’s gotten better---the pain of losing her but there are times where he still dreams of Theodora.

“By the way, seems like the next stop will be Yseult. Did Laphicet…I mean Maotelus speak to you about the manual we found on the shores of the island?”

“Yeah, there’s bullets for Siegfried scattered around the world…it’s an anti-dragon weapon apparently…”

“You want to look for them?”

The wind Malak takes the gun out of his jacket and looks at it as the metal glints in the sun. He furrows his brows as he gives a slight nod.

            “Yeah…got no leads though. I looked in some ruins a few months back but nothing. This guy is from the far continent, right? I’d probably have to look there…”

 

Eizen hums to himself and thinks for a moment. He then begins walking away and tells Zaveid to follow him. They walk across the deck and enter below into the forecastle and into the cabins. Thankfully, the pirates left Eizen’s room alone knowing full well that the Malak was still with them. He opens the door to his cabin and walks over a shelf filled with books and trinkets and begins pulling out old papers, maps, and folders. Zaveid isn’t quite sure why Eizen brought him here, he scans the room—there are odd antiques, pottery, strange looking jewelry, and gems stashed everywhere.

            “You’ve got a lot of stuff for a Malak…”

            “Not stuff, _treasures_.”

            “Yeah…sure. What’re you looking for anyway?” Zaveid quirks an eyebrow.

            “This!” Eizen pulls a faded map out from under a stack of papers—which **curses** falls all over the floor. He notes to himself to clean it later and brings the map over to his desk and lays it out flat. “We went to the far continent once, it’s furthur south—a three or four week trip past Southgand.” He slides his fingers down the map, there’s a continent surrounded by many smaller islands. “We didn’t stay there long—but we did manage to speak to some of the people who lived there. Their technology far exceeds ours and from what we could gather they have quite a lot of daemons there too. But instead of exorcists, many of the people there own weapons that can fight them off.” Zaveid looks closer at the map, humans fighting off _daemons_ without the help of Malaks? Perhaps that’s why Siegfried held such unique power—still for it to be called an anti-dragon weapon it must’ve been even more powerful than these normal weapons. But in order to fully wield its power he had to find the ammo for it.

            “Maybe I’ll grab a ship at Yseult and head there.” Zaveid says.

            “It’s a perilous journey to the far continent, for some reason the seas are choppy in that area. Many ships that even attempt to head out there get lost—that’s why so little is known about it.”

            “If ya let me borrow this map I’ll be ok, I’m a good boatman believe it or not and the winds’ll tell me if I’m going the right way!

            “And how exactly are you going to get a boat, steal it?” Eizen crosses his arms.

            “More like borrow…from the Abbey! They’ve got plenty of em’, right?”

            “Maybe not, the Abbey has downsized quite a lot, and it’s not just the waters that are dangerous there are an abundance of daemons there too—some that you may be unfamiliar with.”

            “Please, some lil’ daemons won’t scare me.”

            “Dragons too.”

Zaveid doesn’t have a quick remark for that one. He sighs and continues staring at the map.

            “You wanna come with?” Zaveid offers. Eizen looks up at him with a bit of surprise.

            “I’m cursed remember, you sure that would be a good idea?”

            “Well you’ve been there once before, so I bet you could get there again with little trouble—That’s only if you want to. I’m perfectly fine with going on my own.”

 

            Truth be told Eizen wouldn’t mind revisiting the area, he didn’t stay as long as he could have last time he was there with Aifread. He was also a bit curious to unlock the secrets behind the weapon his captain had cherished.

“We’ll need supplies—and a boat. Perhaps the crew may want to go, I should ask Benwick.” He brings a gloved hand to his mouth and begins talking to himself. “In fact, I’m sure they’d want to go. There’s a potential to find a lot of treasure…they’ll probably sell it though. I have to make sure to keep anything valuable if we find it. _Damn_ , where’s the other map I had?!”

Zaveid chuckles to himself, he never imagined that someone so intimidating looking could be such a nerd.

 

* * *

 

Eizen writes on a piece of paper and puts it on Benwick’s desk for him to read. The young man is ecstatic, truth be told he missed getting orders from the first mate. But first he had to unload the shipment they were making at the Yseult port and make arrangements for another shipment, the Aifread pirates were after all more or less a small business as well as outlaws. Eizen mentioned there was no rush since he wanted to make a plan and a list of thing they would need for the journey first. The port town is relatively unchanged since the last time he had visited with Velvet and company, except there are less exorcists about. Rokurou, Zaveid, and Eizen decide to wander the town together. They come across the old church and hear a monk speak of the new great Empyrean Maotelus who has rid much of the land of daemonblight. That’s odd. How did they know about Maotelus already?

“Rokurou? Eizen?!”

The two turn around to find Kamoana running toward them with Medissa and Dyle behind. The small girl grabs onto Rokurou’s hakama and squeals. Eizen smiles in surprise—he hadn’t known this is where they had settled.

            “Eleanor didn’t mention you guys were coming!” Dyle said as he bent over to pick the girl up.

            “Eleanor is here?” Rokurou asks.

            “Yes but she left for Haria not long ago, a group of people are making a new settlement there so she wanted to help out. She said she wanted to take the opportunity to spread the word of Maotelus too.” Medissa said. They continued their conversation over brunch at Dyle and Medissa’s new home. Haria held too bitter of memories for Kamoana, but they were close enough that if she ever wanted to visit she could. Rokurou sat by the window and stared outside, occasionally tapping his finger. Eizen noticed and asked what was wrong. Finally Rokurou admits, that he wants to see Eleanor—just to see how she was doing he insisted. Zaveid, who was playing with Kamona, teased shouting none to quietly someone has a crush, in which Rokurou immediately denied the allegation. The wind malak took two of her dolls from her collection and pressed them together.      

            “Someone’s got the hots for the new Sheps, huh?”

            “Listen, it’s been over a year and we spent a lot of time together---I just want to make sure she’s okay…” Rokurou pouted and turned away from Zaveid. “And I wanted her to try yozakura anmitsu still, we didn’t get a chance to…”

            “Haria is only a half days trip away, we can see what she’s up to—I’m a bit curious myself.”

            “Really? Sweet!” Rokurou beams a smile.

 

The trip to Haria is thankfully uneventful, the malevolence in Southgand had reduced dramatically so there wasn’t a daemon to be seen on the way there. But upon arriving to the town they had learned that Eleanor and some villagers just left to inspect something. Supposedly, several people had recently heard eerie noises at night and upon inspection they had discovered a ruin just a bit to the north. Eizen immediately suggests they check it out, mostly for his own interests. Rokurou agrees to head there with Zaveid trailing behind, the wind Malak was tagging along to keep from being bored---plus he didn’t mind the company of Rokurou and Eizen. The men head through a thick tropical jungle and eventually see a worn down temple hidden amongst a Cliffside. Most of the entrance is covered in moss and plant growth.

            “Wonder how long this thing has been here.” Zaveid says as he waltzes inside. Eizen walks behind him and drags one of his hands along the side of the wall.

            “These markers…maybe since the Dark Period? No that’s not possible...or wait…”

            “You sure like this kind of stuff don’t you?”

            “Eizen is a huge archeology nut, you should’ve heard him and Eleanor go at it about history.” Rokurou adds as he walks on ahead.

            “I did not go at it with her---we merely learned things from different sources!” Eizen practically stomps after him.

            “She was right most of the time too—should see Eizen’s face when he’s wrong!” Rokurou laughs.

            “Guys wait.” Zaveid steps forward in front of Rokurou---though there was sufficient light from the cracks in the ceiling the hallway was dimming the further they went in--but the two of them were sure that wasn’t the reason Zaveid had stopped them. “Something’s in there…”

            “I don’t feel any malevolence though.” Eizen takes a few steps closer. “It’s not a daemon is it?”

            “I’m not sure but—“

 

There’s a scream from within the temple and that’s all it takes for Rokurou to dash in with blades out, the two Malaks follow close behind. They run through an ancient assembly hall and then through a grand entrance way—when crossing it suddenly Eizen and Zaveid feel it---a wave of malevolence hits them straight in the face.

            “Was that a barrier?!” Zaveid looks back, the space at the door is slightly warped.

            “Eleanor!” Rokurou calls out.

 

She’s standing with her spear pointed at a female orc daemon. It bears its fangs and pounds it’s chest. In its hand is an enormous axe and hanging from it, human skulls. There are several men behind her cowering behind the temple’s columns.

            “Rokurou?! Eizen---Zaveid!” She looks at them quickly and back at the daemon, it springs forth and she somersaults out of the way as it tackles one of the columns--smoke and debris flood the floor. “You guys, _run_!” She yells at the villagers, they stumble as they make a flee for the exit. Rokurou sprints forward and cuts at the daemon’s heel, it yells and then swats at him but he jumps out of the way.

            “The hell are you doing here?!” The swordsman barks as he jumps off a fallen column and makes to parry the orc’s axe.

            “I should ask you the same thing—Maelstrom!” She summons a gust of wind to blow the monster back. Eizen and Zaveid both release chains into the ground and bind the daemon’s legs. It’s restraint is short lived as it swipes its axe in the direction of the two Malaks. They both roll away just in time and the axe smashes into a wall. More stones fall down, Zaveid blows them away with a cast of Windlance. Eizen punches a few and runs to the other side of the room.

            “Let’s take this thing down quickly before it wrecks the damn place!” Eizen growls. He releases another cast of Deceiving Pummel, two chains arise from the ground and wraps around both of the Orc’s arms. Rokurou dives forward and slices at the orc’s neck---too shallow. He descends and rolls behind with a curse. Eleanor prepares to strike the beast in the chest but it breaks free of one of Eizen’s chains and prepares to punch Eleanor, she brings her spear up just in time but she’s knocked back hard against a wall. Zaveid swears under his breath and casts a fire arte hoping to stop the daemon in its tracks.

            “Crown Fire!” A whirlwind of flames erupt around the beast and it shrieks. He lands beside it with pendulums in hand. _One more arte_. He thinks but his hand shakes and he’s not sure why but his body won’t move. The cries of the Orc echo through his ears and he feels himself freeze. Inside his mind he see’s an image of what could’ve been a normal human woman corrupted by malevolence. It thrashes against the flames and steps out of the pit of fire and towards Zaveid.

            “What are you _doing_?!” Eizen dashes forward in front of the wind Malak and blocks a strong swipe from the monster. It sends both of them flying across the room and they both crash onto the floor with a hard thud. Eizen shoves Zaveid off of him and gets back up, he winces---his shoulder is dislocated.

            “Eizen, are you—“

There’s a loud battle cry and they all turn to Rokurou who’s leaped into the air, this time with Stormhowl. He slices the daemon’s head clean off, the head and the rest of it’s body barrels onto the floor and then there is silence.

            “Damn…didn’t want to use this…” Rokurou says as he looks at the longsword. Eleanor walks over and sighs in relief.

            “Are you all alright?”

Eizen begins to walk over with Zaveid behind him, he notices the earth Malak rubbing his shoulder.

            “Eizen..I—“

            “How the hell do you expect to keep your promise if you don’t even have the will to kill a daemon?” He says quietly—but the words are full of hostility.

 


	3. Cold Feet

Rokurou bends over and lays one of his hands on the back of Eizen’s shoulder, he rests his other palm in the front; he tells Eizen to take in a deep breath and then shoves the socket into place. The earth Malak holds in a pained grunt and hears it pop back into place. He rolls his shoulders back and rubs the spot, there’s pain and he’ll probably have to relax for a few days for it to be back to 100% but malaks healed far quicker than humans.

            “Shall we go outside?” Eleanor suggests, she turns toward the exit and begins walking.

            “I’ll catch up in a few, I wanted to check on something.” Zaveid takes out one of his pendulums and releases it from his palm as he stands. He closes his eyes in concentration as the stone aims at the ground.

            “What’re you looking for?” Rokurou asks staring at the weapon.

            “Something’s got a barrier up in this place, it’s a weird one---blocked out the malevolence from reaching outside that opening over there.”

            “Yeah, it’s pretty unusual.” Eizen agrees.

            “Do you think there used to be a therion trapped in here? Maybe they were trying to contain the malevolence to this one spot...” Eleanor speculates.

            “Perhaps…There’s no malevolence anymore…the other daemons vanished once Maotelus released his blessing. Another theory could be that a bunch of daemons were thrown in here and the strongest one survived---could’ve been stored as some sort of weapon.” Eizen says as he gets up. “I think that barrier keeps anything malevolent from getting out.”

            “Wait if that’s the case then Rokurou—“

            “Aw, don’t worry about me, no barrier can keep me down!” Rokurou smiles.

            “We just gotta find whatever is making it and blow it to bits.” Zaveid remarks as he turns his attention to the vibrations between the air and ground. The pendulum twitches and leans slightly left; Zaveid walks across the room with the others watching, then bend down to run his hands on the ground.

            “It’s under here.”

Eizen comes over and stomps on the ground---it shakes and some of the floor crumbles and falls revealing a narrow space underneath. Rokurou and Eleanor scurry over to catch a closer look. Light emits from below, a faded magic circle glows.

            “Never seen an arte like this one.” Zaveid cocks his brow. “Pretty ancient looking.”

            “Do you think someone tried to resurrect Innominat in the past?”

            “Possibly.” Eizen steps down to the space and runs his hands over the circle. He releases a small bit of mana and destroys the arte so that its light fades. “It’s made so that only a Malak can undo the spell—interesting. But that should put things back to normal so that nothing else wanders in here and gets trapped.”

           

 

The four of them exit the temple and reunite with the worried villagers. After much coaxing Eleanor convinces them that she is alright and they head back to Haria. There are villagers building some new huts, some children help their parents gather materials and overall it’s as if the town was never ravaged by malevolence. Strange considering the events that occurred a little over a year ago. The four make their way to the inn where they sit in the corner of the lobby on some lounge benches. Eleanor explains her current mission to spread the knowledge of Maotelus around the world. She hopes that by knowing his intentions humans will better understand how to calm their hearts from generating malevolence; she intends to bestow the true nature malakim so that nothing like before happens again. She turns to Zaveid and bows her head a little.

            “I’m sorry you and Laphicet had to go through what the Abbey did.”

Zaveid looks at her blankly and then gives a boisterous laugh; she looks up at him in confusion.

            “Not your fault, I still don’t trust the Abbey but I know there’s some good gals like you out there. Not all humans are bad.”

 

Eleanor smiles at that. She still felt some guilt for the way she blindly followed Artorious for so long, meeting Velvet had changed her entire world. What was to come would be difficult---the world may regress, calamities will come, humans and malakim still had a long way to go in order to coexist in the same world but she was willing to try and do what she could in her lifetime.

            “By the way, why are you three here?”

            “Rokurou wanted to see that you were doing alright, we ran into Dyle, Medissa, and Kamoana at Yseult and they told us you were here.” Eizen mentions.

            “I mean, Eizen wanted to see how you were doing too!” Rokurou mutters. “It’s been a long time too.”

            “Indeed.” Eleanor wraps her fingers together. “It’s strange to think about all that we went through together…it’s almost like a dream.” She muses in nostalgia.

            “Have you gone back to see him? Laphicet…or Maotelus—whatever the kid is calling himself now.” Rokurou asks as he sits back.

            “I went to visit a month ago on my way back to Loegres. He seems to be fitting in well with his role as an Empyrean. It’s funny, he’s this big enormous dragon but he’s not scary at all. That child’s voice and body just doesn’t match!” She chuckles.

            “I’ll say.” Eizen smiles. “So how long are you here for?”

            “I was going to head back to Yseult once we determined what was making those sounds at night. So since we figured out it was that orc everything is cleared up. What about you three?”

            “I’ve been on Aifread’s ship the past year, just ran into these fools in the past month.” Eizen nods his head at Rokurou and Zaveid. “Thinking about exploring the far continent after this.”

            “The far continent?!” Eleanor exclaims. “Isn’t that dangerous?”

            “We’ve been there before, the pirates and I. Heading over to look for some treasure and to find out more about Siegfried.”

            “You still have it?” Eleanor turns to Zaveid.

            “Yeah, last time the kiddo told me to look for these “bullet” things. Might be the only place I can find ‘em.”

            “I see, and you Rokurou?” She turns to the swordsman and he shrugs.

            “I’m just a ronin now, wandering around the world in search of a decent fight. If I tag along with these two maybe I’ll find one.”

            “Oh, I see.”

            “Would you like to come with?” Rokurou suggests. “You know, take a break from what you’re doing for a few months?”

 

Eleanor blinks a few times and thinks. Could she go on such a journey and put her job as a missionary on hold? “I’m…I’m not sure.”

           

            “You can think about it if you want, there’s no pressure.” Eizen folds his arms. “By the way, have you run into Magilou at all?”

            “Only once when I went to visit Stonebury. She and Bienfu seem to be doing their own traveling as well---but you know how she is always so aloof. I couldn’t get any details from her.”

            “Hmph, seems like her.”

 

 

Later at night Zaveid wanders out onto the beach, boots off and walks along the sand. He used to do this with Theo; just let their toes get soaked with the salty ocean water and stare up at the moon at night. He’s alone now, and just keeps walking in no particular direction. He thinks about the event from the day and mentally kicks himself. Eizen was right, how was he supposed to keep his promise if he couldn’t even kill a daemon he had no connections to? He thinks about Theo and how he couldn’t even stand to hurt her. Had she still been alive now could he even kill her at this point? He stops and sighs, looking up at the moon in the cloudless sky. He misses her so much. The world was cruel to malakim—and especially to him he feels.

 

From afar on the inn’s deck Eizen watches him, wondering what the wind Malak was doing so late at night. He knows theirs still pain in his heart—still hesitation at the mention of even taking a life. Eizen knows it’s probably not easy for someone who’s never done so. He tries to recall when was the first time he had killed…he doesn’t quite remember. He’s been alive for so long and has killed so many. He didn’t enjoy it, he just knew it was something that needed to be done—whether it was his life against another’s or if it was mercy killing. He looks again at Zaveid who’s found a spot to sit and look at the waves. The earth Malak gets up and decides to take a stroll, he continues down the beach to where Zaveid is and stands next to him in silence.

 

            “Hey, sorry about...earlier.”

            “I know.” Eizen says awkwardly.

            “Next time…I’ll-“

            “You don’t have to force yourself right away.”

 

Zaveid sighs at that. “No. Next time for sure…I stopped because I thought about what that daemon could’ve been before…but a human and daemon…a Malak or dragon…they’re two different things.”

Eizen finds himself staring at the other—Zaveid’s eyes were still cast on the moon, its light reflecting off his features. He looks melancholy. Eizen’s hand twitches—he feels he’s about to lay it on Zaveid’s shoulder but holds back. A fragment of a memory flashes in his mind—of him kissing the wind Malak back in Stonebury. Was it a memory or a dream? He’s not quite sure---Zaveid has never brought it up since they had met again. He gets up without a word and leaves the wind Malak alone.

“See you in the morning.”

“Mm.”

 

_Eizen can hear the ocean waves from afar. He’s on a mountain; the rocks are a pretty blue—odd for this type of terrain. He walks along a cliffs edge and passes a familiar cape from above. Against the sound of the wind he hears humming, he follows the tune and sees a woman sitting alone on a high boulder. He goes closer and is surprised to see the same woman from the cape. She finishes her tune and leans over to look down at him._

_“Hello, Eizen.”_

_“How do you know my name?”_

_“Good question.” She tucks in a long strand of hair behind her ear. “How are you?”_

_What a strange question. “I’m, okay I suppose? Where am I?” Eizen turns his head to look at the sea. “This place doesn’t seem that familiar to me.”_

_“We’re in Midgand…this is the last place where he and I saw each other.”_

_“He?”_

_“Before it all happened.” The woman looks sad; she frowns and rubs one of her arms with the other._

_“Before what happened?” It’s then that he notices the bracelet around her left wrist. The familiar colors of a certain someone’s necklace match; it’s tied together with two matching green feathers. “Theo…dora?”_

Eizen wakes up. His neck is stiff from sleeping against a wall and he slowly leans forward rolls back his shoulders. He hears the sounds of Rokurou training from inside the lobby. He had taken to sleeping in the corner where no one disturb him—not that anyone could see him anymore anyway. The earth Malak goes outside and leans on the balcony edge to watch the villagers start their morning---but he isn’t really paying attention. His thoughts wander to his dream---why had it continued from the one he had had a year prior? It’s still vivid, the sound of her voice and the pain in her eyes. He wonders---was that really Theodora? How would he know what she would look and sound like?

 

“Mornin’, sailor!”

 

Eizen turns around and looks up, Zaveid is resting on the roof of the hut; a dumb smile on his face.

“Hey.”

 


	4. Chapter 4

            Eleanor accompanies the three back to Yseult where Aifread’s crew is hard at work preparing the Van Eltia for its long journey. Rokurou asks what the commotion was about and one of the pirates says they’re gearing up for their journey to the far continent. Eizen looks for Benwick; the new captain is giving orders on a condition check from his location on deck. The whole crew was really riled up about this trip. Honestly, Eizen never would’ve had any intention of going again the year before---but truth be told since becoming invisible again he was bored quite often. Their seafaring trips were mostly business related and the spots they visited were ones he had been to numerous times already. The pirates were struggling for income---stealing was of course part of their job as well but when most other crews were disbanded by the Abbey doing such a thing became difficult during these times. Competition with other pirates wasn’t as fun when your crew was basically the only one left. Zaveid is sitting on the railing of the ship, he watches some women carry baskets of fruit across a bridge and to a vendor.

            “What’re you looking at?” Eizen asks as he approaches the wind malak.

            “Admiring the women here. Would talk to them but---well ya know.”

           

Eizen looks at them, a fair amount of skin showing because of the climate. He can tell they’re hardworking and commit to their jobs day in and day out.

            “Which one is your type?” Eizen rests his chin on his hand.

            “Mm, no type in particular---I like all women. Big, small, short, tall, bouncy, firm-“

            “I prefer them with a little more meat on them---like that one.” He points to one of the women; she has large thighs and breasts and carries a heavy basket of melons over her shoulder, a strong woman. “I try to avoid them if possible though.”

            “Women?”

            Eizen nods.

            “What about Eleanor---and Velvet and that other chick, Magilou.”

            “They’re different as traveling companions, I meant romantically. They can be so fickle.”

            “Aw come on, I’m sure you just met the wrong lady. There’s plenty of fish in the sea---isn’t that a saying among you pirate folk?”

            “ _She called my antique collection creepy_ …” He mutters.

            “Huh?”

            “Nothing…. Besides, my curse doesn’t let me keep relationships going for very long.”

            “Don’t blame your curse for that stuff. Do you just get it on at brothels?”

            “I’ve been once or twice with Aifread, I wouldn’t say I’m a frequent visitor though. Not that it matters, we’re malakim.”

            “I chased a lot of women in my day---none of them ever liked me back.” He laughs. “When I first met Theo she socked me really good. It was like love at first sight…and surprise, she ended up liking me back eventually!”

            “Sounds like you’re the desperate type.” Eizen mocks.

            “Life’s more fun when you have someone to enjoy it with, at least for me.” He leans over to rest his head on his hands. “I had a lot of fun traveling with her, more than I did all the other years I’ve been alive…”

 

Eizen doesn’t say anything for a moment. He thinks back to his dream and asks, “What did she look like?”

“She was beautiful. Had long forest green hair, man I used to love watching it flow in the wind. She had these _eyes_ too, could stare at them all day.”

“…Did you get your necklace from her?”

“This?” He looks down at accessory. “Well we made them together with the kids. We were supposed to have matching bracelets cept’ mine ended up way too big so we made it a necklace.”

 

Eizen’s not sure why but he breaks out into a cold sweat.

 

“I think you two would’ve gotten along. She was a bit more serious than I am, older too. Same age as you, kinda liked that mature air about her…but she was the kindest person I’ve ever known.” Zaveid turns his head toward the sky. “I first met her when I was in a brawl with some other wind malaks. I was kind of a punk back then, would pick a bone with anyone I thought could put up a decent fight.”

“…You _still_ do that.”

“So there were three of these other wind malaks traveling together plus Theodora. Fought the other guys and won pretty easily—She insisted that I fight her next but I’ve got a soft spot for fighting women—I made a move on her—like ya know, I said she was totally my type---hit me so hard I doubled over.” Zaveid gives out hearty laugh causing Eizen to smile too. “Man, I fell for her right then and there.”

“That’s one way to meet.” Eizen says. “She whipped you into shape, huh?”

“Yeah, taught me a lot of stuff I never would have thought about.” His smile wanes. “She did so much for me…and in the end I couldn’t do a thing for her.” He says the last part in a whisper.

 

Eizen shifts his weight, he’s not quite sure what to say—without thinking the words leave his mouth.

“Do you hate me?”

Zaveid turns his gaze to Eizen, confused by the question. The earth Malak realizes what he’s asked, he’s prepared for any answer. It didn’t matter what Zaveid felt anyway, it’s not like they were close friends or—

“Do you hate me…for killing Theodora?” He keeps his sight in front of him, away from Zaveid.

“What’re you talking about?” Zaveid scoffs. “You saved her, or are you regretting it now?” He’s a bit angry. “Don’t you dare say you’re sorry, if you do then there was no point in—“

“I don’t regret it, but still I took the life of someone who was important to you.” Eizen announces softly. “If the situation had been reversed and…someone had taken my sister’s life, I don’t know if I could ever forgive them.”

“That’s why I’m going to have my revenge remember?” Zaveid flashes a toothy grin.

“Heh, right.”

“Eizen, Zaveid!” Rokurou calls from behind them. “Benwick said the Van Eltia is stocked for about a month and a half. He and the crew are ready to go when you are—and that ends my message. Seriously, it’s a pain to be the messenger pigeon between you guys.”

“Yeah, I appreciate it Rokurou. “ Eizen places his hands on his hips and looks around. We leaving Eleanor?”

“She’s saying goodbye to Kamoana but said she’ll be back soon. I was kind of surprised she agreed to go with us but she said if we meet other people in the far continent maybe she can spread the word about the Empyreans to them too.”

“Hey, look at that you’ll get to spend more time with the missy!” Zaveid elbows Rokurou who blushes and stammers that no that’s _not_ the reason!

 

It’s mid afternoon when the Van Eltia finally leaves the docks of Yseult, the men scamper around rolling up ropes and fetching tools to get the ship on course. Zaveid hops up to the main mast and summons a nice gust of wind to add speed to the ship---the waters are calm and the sun bright. Eizen stands beside Benwick as the young captain commands the crew. They’re all excited, talking about what they can possibly find and how the last time they had went they hauled a huge load of gems and sold it for a fortune. Eizen thinks back to it, he was so worried about his curse at the time but being with Aifread eased his mind and when he finally made it to the unknown land he realized he could do anything despite having this quirk. Eleanor comes up from behind him and asks Eizen what he’s doing—which causes Benwick to jump up and spin around frantically looking for the Malak though he can’t see him. Eleanor makes a motion with her hand to show where he is and Benwick beams a huge smile. Eizen asks her to tell the young man that he’s doing a good job, which she relays. It was nice to have “translators” on board. Benwick knows it’s temporary so he cherishes it and grabs Eleanor’s hands and thanks her. She’s a little flustered but smiles warmly at him.

Zaveid watches the scene from above; he likes to linger near others but only to observe. The wind tells him that the waters will be fine for at least a few more hours, which puts his mind at ease. He’s sure he can steer the ship safely through harsh tides but there was no telling what the ocean had to offer on this side of the world. A seagull lands next to him on the topmast and it eyes him curiously, he shoos it away with a short blast of wind—didn’t want the damn thing to take a dump on his coat. He takes another look down below; Rokurou and Eizen are stepping out to the middle of the deck, the other sailors seem to be standing off to the sides. The swordsman takes off his weapon and armguard and sets the items on the floor. Eleanor for the most part seems exasperated; Zaveid realizes the two are going in for a spar. He hums to himself waiting to see the two clash.

It’s Rokurou who initiates the first punch; Eizen parries it with his forearm and goes to punch the other in the gut. It connects and Rokurou grips at his stomach and jumps back. He takes in a deep breath and gives a wicked smile. Somehow Eizen was always the first one to land a hit---but Rokurou’s skill was in pain tolerance and stamina. He darts again toward Eizen this time somersaulting over the Malak and kicking back. Eizen catches his leg and tosses him but Rokurou uses the momentum to roll unto the floor and into a crouch. Zaveid eyes the humans on deck—he’s not quite sure what they’re entertained about. After all they can’t actually _see_ Eizen so Rokurou must look ridiculous running around by himself. This time it’s Eizen who runs over and makes a move—he throws a roundhouse punch but Rokurou grabs it by the fist, Eizen uses his other hand to try and swipe at the other but it’s caught also. Rokurou then leaps up and knees Eizen in the chest and sends him backward with a grunt.

“One and one!” Rokurou yells.

“Yeah, yeah.” Eizen coughs.

Some of the men ask Eleanor who’s winning—she can’t quite say but gives the details of their spar match to them. At some point Zaveid leaps down and stands next to her, he doesn’t say anything but she can see the sparkle in his eyes as he watches the two fight. After another fives minutes they both settle down to catch their breath, it had been awhile since they’d done this and it was every bit as enjoyable as it used to be.

            “You two wanna take me on?” Zaveid saunters over to them with his hands on his hips.

            “So you can get your ass kicked again?” Eizen wipes his mouth with a smirk.

            “Hey now, you guys always ganged up on me with six people! I think I can take two of you.” Zaveid winks.

            “Hmm? You’re underestimating us.” Rokurou cracks his neck. “We got three rules! No eye, nose, or groin shots—well…just try to avoid the head. Number two, no artes. Three! No throwing overboard!”

            “Gotcha.” Zaveid readies a stance; the other two do the same.

 

They circle around each other slowly for a moment, Rokurou leads a charge and aims to hit Zaveid’s chest—but the wind Malak is quicker and easily moves his whole body away with a spin and trips Rokurou in the process. Eizen comes swinging and misses Zaveid by a hair—the wind Malak ducks low and swipes his leg across to hit the back of Eizen’s knees and he topples down to the floor with a curse. Zaveid laughs and jumps out of the way when Eizen tries to throw a back punch in retaliation. The earth Malak knows from fighting with the other a couple of times that Zaveid is quite fast and crafty—But at the moment he’s not using his pendulums or artes to attack. This time the wind Malak lunges forward for a quick punch—Eizen blocks it by raising both his forearms to cover his torso. He steps back and winds up a punch, he sees that Rokurou has snuck up behind Zaveid. The earth Malak and swordsman mentally nod at one another and go running toward Zaveid to corner him—right before they attack Zaveid hops out of the way leaving Eizen and Rokurou to barge into each other. Eleanor smacks her head with a sigh—a classic move. Zaveid’s boisterous laughter is enough to make Eizen grit his teeth and clench his fists in humiliation. That’s right, the bastard could read the wind.

 

            “Sorry, you guys are probably tired from fighting each other, huh?”

            “You barely attacked.” Rokurou noticed.

            “Yeah well…” Zaveid doesn’t quite finish the sentence, he shrugs instead.

            “Give me five minutes then—“ Eizen points to Zaveid and then himself.

            “Hmm, just reaper boy?” Zaveid grins.

 

Rokurou laughs—he knows Eizen doesn’t like being bested at anything. Though he himself liked fighting the earth Malak it would be interesting to see two malakim duke it out. At this point he goes to join Eleanor in watching. The other men on deck go about their own business since the show was truly now invisible, Rokurou warns them to try and stay away from the center though—unless they want to be hit in the scuffle.

This time Eizen takes off his jacket and folds it up (Zaveid thinks its funny how neat the other is) and places it on a nearby barrel. He pulls his gloves up a little to better the fit and motions for Zaveid to attack. The other obliges and brings his leg up quick for a kick. Eizen blocks it, but Zaveid is fast—he uses the momentum to spin over in mid air to initiate another kick. This one connects to Eizen’s shoulder—he grunts and pivots back. Zaveid lands and quickly looks up at Eizen---it’s for a splint second that Eizen see’s a worried look on Zaveid’s face but unfortunately he had already thrown a punch and didn’t stop to connect with Zaveid’s stomach. He flies back and lands with his back on the deck.

“O-ow.” Zaveid chokes.

Eizen stomps over to him confused. “Why didn’t you dodge?”

“Your shoulder…” Zaveid sits on his butt and winces— _damn_ did Eizen punch hard.

            “Huh?”

            “It was dislocated, right? Sorry, I forgot when I kicked you..”

            “Is that all? You really are soft.” Eizen goads.

 

Zaveid clicks his tongue and gets up. He doesn’t feel like fighting if Eizen was still healing.

            “Let’s do this again in a week, when you’re at a hundred percent.” He suggests.

            “Fine, but be prepared to lose.” Eizen provokes.

            “Sure, reaper.”

 

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

A few days pass before the crew sees an island big enough to at least dock the Van Eltia and search for anything valuable. Most of the plots of land they had seen weren’t worth stopping for. It’s hot and the sun beats down on the white sand, beyond the beach is a thick tropical jungle filled with tall trees and gigantic species of vegetation---plant leaves are half the size of the men. One of the pirates notes that they haven’t seen anything like this in Midgand. Eizen immediately goes into his exploration mode and proceeds into the jungle with Rokurou and the others following behind. The crew follows the swordsman for their lead through the dense tropical forest. Wherever Eizen went there was sure to be some sort of treasure, they only catch is they might run into some dangers because of his curse. Zaveid hops along the jungle’s canopy, Eizen makes an offhand joke-- he’s like a “monkey” to which Zaveid throws a giant tree nut at the other below—he misses.

 

The group stumble upon a group of boar feeding on the forest ground—a couple of the men decide to break off the group to get some fresh meat for the team alongside collecting fruits and more natural goodies. This leaves the scouting team consisting of Eizen, Eleanor, Rokurou, Zaveid and a handful of the crew to continue deeper into the island. They explore different areas for two days but the island appears to be uninhabited. Eizen decides the third day will be the last so the team heads to the far eastern part of the island. They’re away from the beach but hear the sound of crashing water, they follow it to find a waterfall pouring into a basin. They decide to take a rest and the dip themselves in the cool crystal clear water to fight the heat. Rokurou strips himself of his clothes and hops in to swim in the water, some of the other sailors follow suit. Eleanor takes off her shoes and dips her feet next to Eizen who sits under the shade of a giant leaf. Zaveid skips some stones along the water---he’s quite good at it. Eizen watches him as the wind Malak licks his lips and closes one eye to aim his throw. It’s strange to him, how Zaveid can be so happy go lucky and dreadfully somber at other times. One of the rocks skips far enough to splash into the waterfall. That’s when Zaveid lifts his brows and wind steps over to the waterfall.

            “Guys, you gotta see this!” He calls from the side of the cascading water. There’s a large stone arch leading to a descending staircase. The sailors hoot and holler at the find—finally a chance to find something! Rokurou and some of the others hurriedly put their clothes back on. They cautiously enter the tomb, it’s much cooler inside but dark. They have to light torches in order to see—Zaveid summons a small glowing gust within his palm—though he’s a wind seraph he has some knowledge of fire arts. The green glow startles some of the pirates but then they remember they’re in the company of Malaks. The stairs leading down into the earth is worn but sturdy; Eizen drags his hands against the dusty walls and speculates whether the ruins are from the era of Avarost to which Zaveid scoffs and looks at the carved hieroglyphics on the walls, he disagrees saying that’s _way too old_. 

Once the stairs end they enter a pitch-black chamber. Rokurou waves his torch around and continues forward into a hallway, when he turns a corner he immediately draws a blade. Daemons. The three of them prepare for battle, four ghouls linger forward—their mouths hungry for flesh. Rokurou makes quick work of deposing of one, he lunges forward and cross slashes the fiend into four boney pieces. Eizen pummels one up against a wall and then clasps both of his hands together to pound it to the ground. He stomps on his opponent’s head and crushes the skull beneath his boot.  Zaveid winces watching how fast the two made a decision to kill in an instant. He lassoes the two remaining ghouls with his pendulums before they can reach the humans of the crew.  They’re restrained but struggle against the string of his weapons; it slices at their rotting flesh as they struggle to get free. Their inhuman cries echo through the chamber. Zaveid can feel Eizen watching him. The earth Malak casts stone edge---a sharp stone springs from the ground and shatters the daemons in an instant.

“I could’ve—“

“Let’s continue.” Eizen interrupts Zaveid and walks past him.  
Rokurou notices Zaveid’s blank stare on the ground and asks of he’s okay and the wind Malak grumbles a small yes.  They continue deeper into the tomb and pass several small catacombs filled with coffins Eventually they reach a treasure room in the back but it seems to have been ransacked before.  The pirates try to salvage what might still be valuable but many items are broken to pieces or faded beyond recognition, there’s no jewels in site.  Rokurou spots a pile of rusted blades and excitedly goes through them, rubbing off grime and dust off to see if he can find a nice hidden blade.  Eleanor coughs from the dust and comments on how it’s probably not good karma to steal from a tomb but then remembers she’s speaking to _pirates_. Eizen's interest lie within a stack of books on a shelf, they’re in the ancient tongue and flips through several before settling on one that catches his eye. It has information on the far continent! He flips through it and finds a familiar illustration within.  He calls Zaveid over and shows the picture to him, it’s a diagram of Siegfried. One that is more detailed than the one he had found with Laphicet on the beaches of Maanan Reef.  Zaveid instinctively takes Siegfried out from within his jacket and looks at the picture.  On the next page is what looks like a map of many islands between Southgand and the far continent.

  
            "So these bullets might be scattered on these islands, huh? I wonder why whoever made them would do that..."  
"Hm, you’re right." Eizen says. "I’ve wondered if Siegfried is one of a kind or if there are multiples out there in the far continent.  We didn’t stay there too long to learn much about it...And Aifread seemed pretty content to just have the gun itself."  
"Look here...that’s..." Zaveid points to the next page. Within the pictures of islands there are serpent like creatures. "...A dragon." Zaveid whispers.  "If Siegfried is an anti dragon weapon then maybe its creator left bullets in these spots to kill the dragons."  
  
A good theory.  Eizen thinks.  If that was true the malevolence on the islands must be strong. He does remember a man that he and Aifread had met in a small town from the far continent had told them of their plight of dragons...it seemed like they were a common occurrence there as opposed to Midgand where they were a rare occurrence.  
               "Shall we check these islands out then?“ Eizen asks Zaveid.  
               "Hell yeah!"


	6. Chapter 6

“Six!” Rokurou slams his shot glass down on the table with a loud clank and pours himself another. Zaveid shouts, “Eight!” and snatches the bottle away from Rokurou as soon as he’s done. Eizen’s sighs to himself, the two had managed to find their way into the Van Eltia’s small supply of booze. He’s sure the pirates will have a fit when they find some of their precious whiskey bottles missing. Despite this he doesn’t bother stopping the two, he finds it quite amusing. They’re holed up in a storage room using a barrel as their table. Eizen sits in the corner holding a glass of the drink gingerly. He takes his time with it unlike the other two.

“Yer slowing down Rokurou! Fifteen!” Zaveid sloppily pours himself another glass and laughs.

“Dammit, you’re like a fish!” Rokurou says as he pinches the bridge of his nose. “I give up I can’t do more than this.”

“Aw, come on!”

“Ever since I became a daemon my tolerance level dropped.” He sits back in his chair, a crate, and sighs, looking at his empty glass. “Feeling kinda sick with the boat rocking too.”

“Really? I like it, kinda makes me sleepy though. Nothing like a good nap after a drink.” Zaveid downs his glass and kicks his feet up on the barrel. “What’s it like being a daemon anyway? Kinda weird you’re not feral like the others.”

“Let’s see, there isn’t much of a difference other than I’m a little stronger than I was as a human.” He brings a hand up to flick his bangs covering his malevolent eye. “I can see movement a little better with this one, if I concentrate hard enough it’s like other things are in slow motion. I can only do it for a few seconds though.”

“Hmm?” Zaveid rests his chin on his hand. “The other humans can’t see it right?”

“Nope, not anymore at least. I look like anyone else to them.”

“Ya act like it too, it’s strange how some daemon’s can retain who they are and others don’t.” He sits back and brings another glass up to his lips.

“I think it varies by the type of emotion a person has. Also, other characteristics like a person’s personality may cause malevolence to manifest in different ways.” Eizen says after a long bout of silence. “For Rokurou he’s possessed by a strong sense of pride—maybe greed to become stronger than any other…but his pride also prevents him from doing other things that would otherwise be considered inhumane. But this may only be for humans, for malaks we always seem to lose ourselves…”

“You’ve thought about this.” Zaveid utters.

“Just an observation.”

 

The door to the room swings open and Eleanor steps in with a, “There you guys are!” But stops in her tracks and pinches her nose. “You guys reek of alcohol!”

“Rooms small, lil’ lady.” Zaveid grins. “Want a glass?”

“Oh no, I’m too young.” She shakes her hands. “I was just wondering where you all were but I see I’ve run into boy’s night.”

“Man’s night.” Zaveid corrects.

“You can sit with us if you like.” Rokurou offers as he pats a crate beside him.

“It’s quite alright, I was thinking of going to bed soon anyway. Enjoy your night!” She smiles warmly and waves goodbye to the three of them. When she leaves Rokurou looks a bit dejected.

“So~ that’s your type, huh?” Zaveid asks mischievously.

“W-what, _no_! Eleanor and I are just friends!”

“Come on, I’ve seen the way you look at her.” Zaveid sits back in his chair and drinks another glass, _how many has it been?_ “I can give you some tips.”

“Er-“

“Eleanor is a good girl, that’s for sure.” Eizen scoots himself closer to the other two. “Not often you find one like that. You both are around the same age too, no?”

“Not you too, Eizen!” Rokurou blushes a little and it’s not from the alcohol. “I’m focused on my training, anyways!”

“Look there’s nothing but dudes on this ship and she’s the only girl on it and you’re interested in her! If I were you I’d do something before she gets swept away by some other guy.”

“ But she’s…focused on her own work too. There’s no place for romance when you’re a swordsman, anyway!”

“Well, women _can_ be a bit of trouble. Who knows if you guys got married she might be a completely different person.” Eizen thinks aloud.

“M-married?!”

“Whoa, who burned you First Mate?” Zaveid shoves Eizen’s arm.

“What about you two? Do malak’s get married and stuff?” Rokurou leans over the barrel and leans a cheek on a palm.

“We don’t have ceremonies like humans do but sometimes we find someone we want to stay with.” Zaveid gives a light smile. “You could say when two malaks exchange their true names it’s considered a vow of love---or marriage I guess. Theodora and I planned to stay together before—well ya know.” He goes to grab the whiskey bottle but finds it empty. Rokurou feels a bit guilty for asking the question now that the atmosphere had turned somber. Zaveid notices the yaksha’s face. “Don’t worry man, I’m more or less over it. I know she’d want me to be happy and go on with my life.” He waves it off. “Just hard cause that’s the only woman I’ve been that close to.”

“What was she like?” Rokurou asks. “I know you said she was kind and loved life more than anyone.”

“Yeah, she had this energy about her. Could see the good in everything. She had a temper though, boy did she.” He laughs. “She’d get mad at me all the time, I mean I’m no saint so I deserved a whack or two. She also loved sweets, when we started raising those kids we ended up needing to cook…well at least I did. Theo never quite got the hang of it. I’m not great with regular food but I’m pretty good at baking, well she made sure that I made her everything from cakes to macaroons. Her favorite were mille feuilles, she—“

Eizen noticed Zaveid’s eyes light up the more he talked about her. It was nice to see, this genuine happiness the wind malak showed was different when he was clowning around with them or making a half-hearted joke. He finds himself staring at Zaveid, the curve of his jaw and the sparkle in his eyes---Eizen forces himself to look away. He remembers that kiss once more. _Why did I do that? He’s not…_ He shakes his head and takes a long drink from his glass.

“She sounded like a great woman.” Rokurou nods. “She was older too, huh? Is that your thing?”

“I like that maturity I guess.” Zaveid shrugs. “I ain’t complaining if any lady finds me attractive though.” He smoothes his hair smugly.

“Would you get married again---or I guess settle down with another malak?”

“Hmm, I dunno. I’ve only ever shared my true name with her. Can’t imagine sharing it with anyone else.”

“Huh? But what about Eizen?”

Eizen practically spits out his drink and sits forward a bit too quickly. “I-it’s different when we did it! That was a vow of trust!”

            “There aren’t any homosexual malakim?” Rokurou asks unfazed by Eizen’s outburst.

            Zaveid guffaws and wraps an arm around Eizen. “What’s wrong babe, don’t you think we’d make a great couple?” Eizen begrudgingly shoves him away and finishes his drink. “I’ve known a few before, yeah.” Zaveid continues. “True names hold a special meaning for us, it depends on the intent of the exchange.”

            “I see. You all sure are complicated.” Rokurou yawns.

            “Us? You lot throw a whole ceremony over it!”

            “I guess that’s true.” Rokurou says sleepily. “Bet she’d look nice in a white dress too…” He mumbles before his eyes droop and he begins to lightly snore. He falls asleep sitting up.

            “Well, guess I’ll take a stroll under the moonlight.” Zaveid hops out of his seat and waltzes to the door. “Staying here?”

            “Yeah, gonna clean up after you two and throw Rokurou in his bed.”

            “Alright.” Zaveid turns to leave but Eizen calls to him.

            “Tomorrow, wanna spar? My shoulder’s better.”

Zaveid turns his head and flashes a wide smile. “Yeah!”

  

* * *

 

 

_That night Eizen dreams Theodora and Zaveid. They’re running along a rocky path with several enslaved malakim close behind. They shoot artes at the two to which Zaveid deflects with a barrier, Theodora casts windlance and knocks one of the Malakim back but there are too many, they’re outnumbered. Zaveid pulls out his pendulums and turns toward her telling her to run as fast as she can. She refuses, crying out that she won’t leave him to be captured by the Abbey. He knocks a few of the enemies back and yells to her once more. He promises her that he’ll come back, no matter what.   Tears fall from her face, she nods and continues to flee. Zaveid knocks down two of the malaks with ease, but there are several more behind casting fire artes at him. He tries to avoid the blazes but the path is narrow and the flames burn up the wind he’s using. He jumps up high and blows some of them down with a blast of wind, but an earth malak forces the mountain-side to release rocks above him. They crash on Zaveid and he comes tumbling down. He struggles to get up, the other malakim release their artes all at once, the measly barrier Zaveid attempts to put up is easily broken and he’s ravaged by their attacks. When the dust clears it reveals him, wounded and limp from being pummeled by so many. Through the small crowd of malakim Melchior steps forward. He strokes his beard—giving a backhanded compliment on how long Zaveid lasted against so many foes. The old man reaches his hand out and a magic circle appears before him, another around Zaveid. He screams—several arte rings surround him and he grips his head. Theodora sees him from afar, watches as he cries out and falls to his knees in agony. She shrieks his name and tears rain down her face---but she can’t go back. It’ll be for naught if she goes does. When the light from the arte fades she sees Zaveid stand up---and the wind tells her that he’s no longer the same. Her heart falls into despair, and the malevolence that she had kept inside of her erupts._

Eizen wakes up startled. He takes in a deep and shaky breath and slowly sits up on his bunk, hand to his head. He wonders if these are her memories.

* * *

 

“Oof!” Zaveid gets slammed onto the floor for the second time after a fast grapple and throw by Eizen. He sits up and rubs his lower back grumbling something under his breath. When it came to hand to hand combat Eizen was clearly stronger. Zaveid was lighter and faster, however, Eizen was pretty good at blocking any attacks the wind malak made. This irritated him to no end, his ego didn’t like being bested by the other like this. It was strange. When he and Rokurou sparred Zaveid didn’t think much of losing to the other—but with Eizen he…

“That it?” Eizen mocks. He watches as Zaveid gets up and readies himself for another round. He wipes the sweat against his forehead with the back of his hand and grins at the earth malak.

Eleanor has taken to reading a book under the sun, the Van Eltia housed a rather impressive collection of books. Eizen had mentioned that Aifread was quite fond of books despite being a pirate. He collected classics and obscure stories to store in the main meeting room of the ship. Rokurou lays next to her on his side with a drink in hand as he watched the malaks fight.  Suddenly they hear Benwick call out from the front of the ship—land! It had been several days since they discovered the map for Siegfried and their current destination was the dreary looking island ahead. From afar they can see jagged rocks like daggers rising from the ground. The sky turns cloudier the more they approach, rain begins to fall and hits the deck of the Van Eltia with a noisy pitter patter. The two Malaks had stopped sparring by then, Zaveid furrows his brow and quirks his lip at what the wind tells him.

“What’s wrong?” Eizen asks as he joins Zaveid.

“There’s a lot of malevolence there.”

The earth Malak looks forward, he can faintly see the eerie purple haze being emitted from the island. When they dock they realize the island is desolate, the complete opposite of the one they were at a week ago. The vegetation is limited to weedy looking plants and dull looking wild flowers. Even the human crew mentions the bad vibes they’re getting from the place.

            “I doubt anyone lives on this island either…” She says while surveying the stony beach. You guys sure the parts to Siegfried are here?

            “According to the map, yes.” Eizen digs the old piece of paper from his pocket and looks it over once more. The pirates split themselves into parties and decide who will search the island for valuables—but Eizen gets a bad feeling. He turns to Rokurou.

            “Tell them not to leave the area, there’s a good chance daemons hold this area.”

            “But, Eizen, they won’t be able to see them remember?” Rokurou frowns. “Besides you’re telling me to tell a gang of pirates to sit still on an island they haven’t ransacked yet.”

 

Eizen sighs at that. He’s right.

 

            “You stay here with your merry men and I’ll just find the bullets myself, no big deal, First Mate!” Zaveid leans against Eizen and twirls his hand in a gesture. I’ll be quick; Wind tells me there’s a temple not far from here.”

            “I better go with you, you’ll just get yourself into trouble.”

            “You just want to see the temple.” Rokurou laughs. He wasn’t wrong.

            “How bout’ I keep your guys company, just bring a nice blade if you see one.” Rokurou winks.

            “I’ll go with the expedition group, from far away this island doesn’t look very big, and it’s definitely not hospitable enough to allow people to live here---but still if we find anyone I want to make sure they’re okay.” Eleanor offers.

            “Right, then we’ll meet back here at sundown.” Eizen suggests.

 

 

The two Malaks hike up the island’s jagged mountain in the rain, Eizen makes sure to fix the path they’re own lest they slip and make a terrible fall. Once they reach the top they find an old stone tower. There’s a narrow staircase that spirals into a small entrance in the side. They walk up the stairs, Eizen rubs his hands along the wall as they do and wonders aloud how old it is. He hasn’t seen anything quite like it before. Zaveid isn’t amused, he asks Eizen how can he be interested in this thing even in the pouring rain. Once inside Eizen muses at the old stone used to make the hallways, something about the rocks being a rare occurrence in Midgand. "They're just rocks.." Zaveid mumbles. he casts a green fire in his palm for some light. When they turn the corner they enter a large room and hear a skittering noise, daemons! Several giant centipede creatures scurry away from the light and vanish into the dark corners of the room. Well the less fighting they had to do the better, right? Zaveid shrugs. They continued inward albeit slowly because Eizen would occasionally find a mural and marvel at its aged beauty. Eventually they reach a chamber with a familiar emblem on the ground—the same one that adorned the sides of Siegfried. It’s a circular room with shelves lined on the walls, in the center is an altar with a decorative box. Eizen opens the top and finds a scrap of paper in the ancient tongue, beneath it are several dozen smaller boxes. Zaveid takes one of them and empties some of the contents into his hand, silver bullets! He cocks his gun and loads it, the ammo fits. Eizen reads the paper under the light of Zaveid’s fire arte, his eyes widen at some type of realization.

 

"These bullets can destroy malevolence." He says in awe.

"Is that why it’s an anti-dragon weapon?” Zaveid inquires skeptically.

"Might have to take that thing for a test run. But that thing holds the power to enhance your mana already; I wouldn’t be surprised if it was able to alter it too. Malevolence is a form of mana after all.”

 

Zaveid takes the chest of bullets and hoists it over his shoulder. In the corner of his eye he can see Eizen stuff several small artifacts, to which he calls junk, into a knapsack. They return to the exit to find that the downpour had gotten even worse.

            “What hell is with this rain?” Zaveid groans.

            “Wanna wait it out?” Eizen suggests. “Ah, but it’s starting to get dark, I said to meet at sundown didn’t I?”

 

Suddenly they feel a change in the atmosphere, there’s the pressure of a massive domain. They hear a distant roar in the sky. Descending from the clouds is a blue dragon, it has wings like a dragonfly, they’re translucent and flap wildly as the creature begins to circle the mountain.

 

"Must be why this island is so desolate.” Eizen says as he examines the beast. “Was probably a water malak.”

“Eizen..it’s—“ Zaveid runs to the edge of the cliff, his eyes wild as he makes out what he can of the dragon. “It’s heading for the ship!”


	7. Chapter 7

“W-What is that?!” One of the pirates cries as he points toward the sky. Eleanor looks up and sees the blue dragon overhead.

“Let’s go back to the ship!” She shouts.

 

The expedition team races back toward the Van Eltia through the rocky and slippery terrain. A few of them stumble in the mud and lose their footing but it doesn’t deter them from returning full speed to the rest of the crew. Rokurou has his blades drawn as the dragon circles closer toward the ship, the pirates have swords and spears out but they know there’s little they can do against a legendary beast such as this. They had heard of the white-horned dragon that had caused mass causalities to the Abbey, people who used to have Malakim in their ranks. Eleanor arrives with her group and they all crowd around in front of the ship.

            “Are Eizen and Zaveid back?” She says as she readies her lance next to Rokurou.

            “Not yet, think we can take it on?” Rokurou sneers, as the dragon descends upon them. It hovers above the ground; its metallic eyes focus on them and the beast screeches. It thrashes; its long tail, like a whip, swipes along the ground. Rokurou and Eleanor jump to dodge the attack but several crewmembers are hit and go flying across the shore. Though the dragon is not very large, about half the size of Shenglong, it’s fast and the rain surrounding it hinders everyone’s movements. Eleanor twirls her lance and tries to thrust it into the dragon’s breast—but its skin is slippery and the blade of her weapon slips off. Rokurou attempts another attack but his sword also glides off the mucus soaked skin. They need artes. It rears its ugly head and shoots a condensed spray of scalding water at a member the crew. He wails in pain as the boiling hot liquid burn away the skin and flesh of his left arm. The other pirates panic and begin to flee; this isn’t a fight they can win. Two of the men grab the injured and haul ass back to the Van Eltia.

            “I’ll stall it, Eleanor, head back to the ship with the others!” Rokurou draws the dragon’s attention by swiping at its feet with his blade.

            “What about you?!”

            “Don’t worry about me, I can handle it till Eizen and Zaveid come back!”

Almost on cue he sees the two malakim emerge from behind a rocky path, they see the dragon and Eizen’s mouth twists into a snarl as he sprints faster toward it.

            “Eizen, physical attacks won’t work!” Rokurou shouts through the rain as he sees the earth Malak coming in with a punch. Eizen grunts as he realizes what Rokurou meant, his fist is now covered in a gooey slime. He hops back as the dragon tries to hit him with its tail.   Zaveid rushes by, crate still on his shoulder, and whip a pendulum in the air creating a small cyclone in front of the dragon’s face to startle it.

            “Eizen!” Zaveid calls as he shoots a look to the other Malak.

Eizen smiles, he stomps on the ground with all his might and cracks the earth. Several boulders erupt from the earth and pound the dragon in the side sending it flying into the side of an outcropping boulder.

            “Run!” Eizen orders, and the three of them make a mad dash to the Van Eltia. Benwick yells at the men to draw anchor and propel the ship back into sea. Zaveid summons a gust to help push it along. Eleanor and Eizen run to the back of the deck and are alarmed to see the dragon already getting up from the rubble. They’re barely off the beach when the dragon shoots another beam of water at the ship and it sears a hole into the wood. _Shit!_ This is bad and they all know it, they don’t have the materials to fix the ship if it gets too damaged. Benwick calls to the other pirates to ready the cannons, not knowing if they’ll work against such a creature. The ship is partly out into the water now but the dragon begins flying toward them and shoots another spray of water, this time hitting one of the sails.

            Not good not good. Eizen’s wind artes are decent but not strong enough to kill a dragon with. He casts wind lance but it only knocks the dragon back a little, its unscathed. Rokurou and Eleanor stand with their weapons in their hands, not knowing how to attack the creature. Perhaps they should turn back to the island? Again, the dragon shoots a blast of water. Rokurou tries to deflect it with his blade, he only manages to deflect the full brunt of it but the stream hits one of the ships masts and takes a big chunk of wood out of its foundation.

 

            “We’ll sink at this rate.” Eizen mutters.

            “And be stranded on this island.” Rokurou laughs with no humor his voice.

 

Eizen hears a clicking noise from behind him and turns to see Zaveid with Siegfried in his hand. He’s loaded a several bullets into it. “What are you doing?”

Zaveid doesn’t answer him; he walks up the small staircase to the quarterdeck and raises the gun. He concentrates his sight on the dragon as he prepares to attack once more. He reads the wind---finds the narrowest spot between the falling rain and pulls the trigger. A blue light flashes from Siegfried and a mysterious energy clashes with the dragon hitting it in the middle of its chest. It cries out shooting the surge of liquid into the air. Zaveid pulls the trigger again, and again---shooting it point blank each time till the beast screams no more and begins to descend. Its body erupts in bright blue flames---before it hits the water they see the figure of a Malak. They sink into the sea.

 

Almost immediately the rain ceases. The crew is confused and a bit disoriented at the situation but it seems as though the danger has passed. The dragon is dead.

 

“Whoa.” Is all Rokurou manages to say as he stares at the spot the dragon…Malak had dissipated. Eleanor’s breath shakes as she breathes a sigh of relief.

 

They all turn to hear and see Zaveid gag into his mouth. He drops Siegfried onto the ground and stumbles back into the railing of the ship. He sinks down to his butt and puts his face in his hands and takes in several deep breaths.

“Are you okay?!” Eleanor trots over and kneels beside him.

“Y-yeah.” Zaveid pants—hating the way his voice wavers. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Don’t feel bad, you saved the ship.” Eizen steps forward and looks down at Zaveid. “If you hadn’t killed it who knows who could’ve died.”

“I killed them..” Zaveid strokes his hair back with both hands, his voice trembles. “I..thought if I did then..” He takes in a deep breath, his eyes shake a little.

 

“Then you would save everyone.” Eizen finishes. “You did the right thing. You saved that Malak too. There’s no telling how long it was here alone with no one to release it from that fate.” He bends over to pick up Siegfried and hands it to Zaveid who stares at the weapon. His eyes are clouded and blank. “Zaveid.” Eizen states his name with force.

“Sometimes…to kill is to save.” He repeats Eizen’s words from a year ago. The wind Malak reaches out and takes the gun in his hand; he puts it back in his pants behind his jacket. Eleanor helps him up; she can see that he’s still shaken. Benwick runs over to where Rokurou and Eleanor stand and asks what happened. As Rokurou explains Zaveid slinks away and disappears for the rest of the day.  

 

* * *

 

Eizen notes that Zaveid quieter during the proceeding weeks. They visit more islands—some with nothing but untouched wilderness, others with lost civilizations and treasure---and some filled with daemons. They fight them when it becomes necessary, whether to protect the crew or while fleeing with whatever they plundered from old tombs. Zaveid, however, doesn’t hesitate to kill anymore. In fact he does so without thought. He pulls the trigger on Siegfried at any sight of malevolence—whether it be a dragon or a lowly daemon that Eizen could easily step on and kill. Rokurou and Eleanor notice it too; it’s unnerving to see Zaveid flash a smile for a brief second before he shoots something. It’s different from the Zaveid they know, the one who was so adamant to keep things living. They had found a several more crates containing bullets for Siegfried, Eizen thought it would be a good thing but Zaveid had already gone through one crate in the span of their journey. On one particularly day they run into a pack of daemons on stark wasteland of an island. They’re wolf-like creatures, not powerful on their own but they are strong in numbers---Zaveid takes a group out with some shots from Siegfried. Finally Eizen says something, he shoves the wind malaks shoulder and tells him to think about his use of ammo. There was no telling how many bullets were in the world; he shouldn’t waste them on things that they could take care of with regular means. Zaveid grins—his smile a bit maniacal. He agrees—and instead shoots himself in the head and rushes through the hoard of daemons. He whips his pendulums through them in a wild frenzy—and laughs as he slices and punctures the beasts. _Something’s not right. Something’s…_

“Zaveid!” Eizen approaches the other who’s catching his breath but has a wicked smile on his face.

“What is _wrong_ with you?” Eizen yanks him back by the shoulder.

“ _Huh_ , what’s with _you_? Hands off!” Zaveid snaps and shoves his hand away.

“The past few weeks you’ve been acting like a madman whenever we run into daemons.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You just slaughtered that whole lot of daemons. You know we could’ve just gone through them with force.”

“Does it matter? I killed them, that’s saving them right?”

 

Eizen doesn’t know what to say to that. Not now at least—not when Zaveid is so heated. He knows the other is taking his words—twisting them out of anger and guilt. It pisses Eizen off; and without thinking he punches Zaveid square in the jaw. Rokurou and Eleanor gawk as Zaveid steps backward. He snaps his head back toward Eizen and tackles him and the both of them go into a full out brawl. Eleanor orders them to stop but to no avail. They’re throwing punches at each other—each one that connects echoes a loud thud. Zaveid has a little bit of blood on his lip; Eizen’s coat is a little dirtied from getting kicked in the side. Rokurou shakes his head and sighs—he doesn’t want to get into it. Eizen and Zaveid fighting was nothing new.

“Come on Eleanor, let’s head back to the ship and let them sort things out.”

“But…” She looks to the two malaks, Eizen has the upper hand as he pins Zaveid to the floor. The exorcist sighs. She wants to help, wants to say something to make them stop fighting, but she knows she can’t. She follows Rokurou as they leave the two behind on the barren field.

Eizen has one of Zaveid’s arms behind his back with his knees bent down to prevent him from getting up. The wind Malak curses against the sandy ground, his arm hurts. They’re both gasping for breath. A soft wind blows and finally Eizen lets go of Zaveid’s arm and stands up. He dusts his jacket off and watches cautiously as Zaveid sits up and rubs his arm.

“Zaveid, let me ask you again. Do you hate me?”

“The hell, man.”

“Do you think I enjoyed killing Theodora?”

“I know you didn’t!!” His voice cracks. He balls his hands into fists and looks away.

“I know it’s hard for you.”

“It’s not.”

“Don’t let what I said change who you are. Even if you have to kill---do it as a service. Do it because you want to, because you need to.” Eizen doesn’t say anything after that; he leaves Zaveid there to cool off.

 

* * *

 

Later at night the reaper walks around the Van Eltia. He asks Rokurou and Eleanor if they had seen the wind Malak. Eleanor says she caught a glimpse of him going back up to the deck an hour before. Eizen’s not sure why but his feet keep walking on their own—he has to find Zaveid to see how he’s doing.

The deck is empty at the late hour, most of the pirates have gone to the meeting hall to drink and boast about all the treasure’s they’ve found thus far. Their journey was coming to an end. All that was left was to reach the mainland of the continent. Eizen approaches the deck; though they’re in a tropical region the air is chilly. The moon reveals itself from behind a cloud and the ship’s surroundings become a little bit more visible. He looks up and sees Zaveid’s sitting on one of the mast’s crow nests. Upon closer inspection he has two empty bottles next to him—must’ve raided the drink bin. Eizen makes his way up the mast and silently takes a seat next to the other.

“Hey, First Mate.” Zaveid slurs a little.

“I know I invited you on the ship but you can’t drink the entire supply of booze.”

“Dun worry, I’ll be sure to buy more when we get back to Yseult---they’ll ne’r know it wen’ missin’. He brings the bottle up to his lips but it’s empty, _should’ve taken more._ “…Hey, can I ask you something.”

“Yeah, what?”

“When ya killed Aifread, did you hesitate at all? Did you feel guilty?”

Eizen takes a deep breath, he thinks back to that day when he had to end his captain’s life. Aifread had given him a reason to live, a reason to embrace his curse. Not just any human or Malak could’ve done that for him. “Before, when I was traveling with Velvet, we met him as a daemon in Eastgand. Deep down I knew it was him but I didn’t make a move against him right away. When I saw that he was no longer himself and was willing to kill Laphicet, a child, I knew I had to end it. He didn’t have any control of his life like that. But I don’t feel guilty about what I did.”

            “Ah.” Zaveid slumps his head back against the mast and stares up at the moon.

            “Was there any reason why you were so adamant about killing Theodora.”

Eizen considers the question; he’s not quite sure how to answer it right away. “I don’t like seeing those of my kind turn like that—it’s better off if you kill them. That’s what you promised me, right?”

            “Yeah but, you didn’t even know her.” Zaveid’s tone is soft, he isn’t angry just curious.

            “I…” Eizen look up at the sky, the stars twinkle in clearness of the night. “When I saw you protecting that dragon, protecting Theodora…I thought this guy is wasting his time…he’ll waste years of his life protecting someone—something that’ll never recognize him or love him back. How sad would it be if he was killed by that very person?” Zaveid doesn’t move, he continues listening to Eizen pour out his thoughts. “I have my curse, but what you had was a curse too…but one that could be lifted.”

            “You barely knew me.”

            “Call it empathy for a fellow Malak. Besides, you helped us on occasion, right?”

“Yeah…say do you remember when you first killed someone?  
“I don’t…there’ve been too many.” Zaveid gives him a look. “I did help the Lord of Calamity kill the great Shepherd, what were you expecting from someone like me.”

“I know.” Zaveid takes in a deep breath. “ Anyways, thanks for the talk.”

“No thanks are needed. Though, you could’ve saved some of that for me.” Me motions at the empty bottles.

“Next time.” He laughs. And then he quirks his lips into a sly grin. “Not gonna kiss me goodnight?”

 

Eizen’s heart skips for a beat, his eyes widen.

 

“ _What_?”

“Just kidding! Night, First Mate!” And with that Zaveid hops off the crow’s nest and vanishes into the wind. Eizen bites his lip. _There’s no way he remembers, right?_ It’s stupid, he knows. What he doesn’t know is why his heart is beating so damn fast or why his face is heating up even though he hasn’t had a drop to drink.

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

“A…letter of challenge?” Zaveid stares at his new master, Melchior. The old legate strokes his beard and puts nib to paper.

“Yes, you would like that wouldn’t you? I’m seeking to lure out the notorious pirate Van Aifread. I want you to capture him alive.”

 

The candlelight on the desk flickers, Zaveid makes a slow nod. His heart flutters a little—he knows this feeling. _Excitement_. But at the same time his mind is clouded and he can’t feel the emotion like he used to. _Used to?_ He tries to recall…what was he doing before this?

 

“I’ve received information that their ship is docked at the harbor. It’s called the “Van Eltia”, make sure you put this somewhere conspicuous for him to see.

 

The malak nods once more and takes the letter from Melchior. His order is received and he pulls down his gold mask to walk into the night.

 

The wind feels nice against his skin but an underlying sense of anxiety grabs at him from behind his mind. _Someone. I’m supposed to find someone, who was it?_ Somewhere in his mind’s eye he sees the image of a woman---someone dear to him. He shakes off the image—he was on a mission. He uses the wind to listen to the conversations between sailors and townsfolke on the harbor. He hears of an impressive looking ship on the third dock and makes his way to it. He cloaks himself as an invisible breeze and finds his way into the massive ship, the wind malak lurks by unknowing pirates who shiver from his unseen presence. He finds the captain’s quarters and slips the letter underneath the door.

 

Right before dawn he waits on the outskirts of Loegres where Melchior had determined the destination. He wonders why the Abbey wanted a pirate alive—not that it mattered, it didn’t change what he was ordered to do. He turns his head at the sound of footsteps and sees a man dressed in dark purple clothing, he has a pointed beard and dark skin, the man tips his hat up and his predatory gaze sets on Zaveid.

 

“Just one malak? I was expecting a praetor from the Abbey with at least a few dozen cronies. Or is this supposed to be some trap?” The man brings up his fists. “Show me what you’ve got.”

 

Zaveid instinctively whips out his pendulums---Aifread thinks it odd that a malak had a weapon that wasn’t a staff like he had seen others using. He dodges one as it whips close to his head and sprints over to Zaveid and throws a punch. The wind malak dodges and hurls the other pendulum. Aifread grabs it by the string and yanks it causing the malak to trip forward—Aifread reels a fist back and punches Zaveid in the square in the gut and sends him flying. He crashes onto the grass and coughs- _\--were humans who didn’t use artes this strong?_ The thought is fleeting as Aifread approaches him once more, Zaveid casts a gust of wind parallel to the ground and trips the pirate. He takes the opportunity to somersault into the air and whip the pirate in the back with one of the pendulum stones. Aifread laughs in amusement at the stinging sensation. The last person to land a hit on him was his first mate. He stands up straight and cracks his neck.

“What’s your name Malak?” He asks of Zaveid.

“My name?” He frowns behind his mask. “I was given the name _Aew Dmayu_...”

“Given? By your master I’m assuming---dunno what it means but doesn’t sound like it suits you.” He cracks his knuckles and bends his knees to ready a stance. “Shall we continue?”

 

In time they’re both left a little bruised and panting, Aifread gives a hearty laugh—he hasn’t felt this thrill in awhile. He hopes his opponent feels the same way—but his indifferent expression said otherwise. Out of the corner of his eye he catches a glimpse of some people high up on a cliffside. Reinforcements. He would have to end this fight soon or make a run for it. It was a bad time to be lost in thought because when he turns his head Zaveid has cast both his pendulums once more, Aifread manages to dodge one but the fatigue leaves one of his legs open and the malak lassos his ankle. The pirate curses as his back hits the ground. Before he could try and free himself Zaveid had at some point brought out another pendulum ( _How many did this guy have?)_ And launched it into the earth causing chains to spring from the ground and tie Aifread in place. The pirate spat a curse upon realizing his carelessness. He just barely manages to wiggle one arm free and struggles to grab something beneath his coat. His fingers find the handle of Siegfried and he swings it up to point at Zaveid and shoots. The malak doesn’t have any time to react as the beam from the weapon hits him right in the head—smashing his mask to pieces. He’s thrown back and lands on the floor with a thud and the chains around Aifread shatter into light and disappear. He sits there catching his breath but doesn’t take his eyes off Zaveid who’s still on the floor.

 

The malak blinks a few times and slowly sits up, he’s dizzy and disoriented.

“Where…Why am I…” Zaveid looks at Aifread who’s a few yards away. “I’m fighting you…?”

“Yeah? You’re the one who picked it…or whoever you belong to anyway had you do it…What’s with you?” Aifread raises an eyebrow. It’s strange seeing the face that was hidden behind the golden mask. It wasn’t often that Aifread saw Malaks face to face---in fact the only other Malak he had ever met and had a conversation with is Eizen.

“Melchior asked me to…capture you...” Zaveid grabs his head with one hand, scattered memories jumble into his mind. “Captured…I was…enslaved by the Abbey…”

“Well, this thing surprises me every time I use it.” Aifread lifts up Siegfreid and looks to Zaveid. “Can ya think for yourself now? You were pretty quiet before.”

Zaveid’s eyes are wide, his will had been sealed away up until this point. It’s strange—like the fog in his mind and suddenly been lifted at the snap of a finger.

“Guess you’re free now, you’re welcome.” Aifread smiles.

“Free...” Zaveid’s eyes widen. How long had it been? What was he doing up until this point---where was Theodora? “Who...who are you?”

“I thought you knew, I’m Aifread the more fearsome pirate in all of Midgand.” He boasts.

“But, that weapon…how did you..?”

“This? I honestly don’t know. It’s a special guy who seems to be able to control mana, though I’m not entirely sure how it works.”

 

Zaveid is shocked, such a thing existed? One that could break the spell the Abbey had on malakim? Suddenly they hear shouts from the distance—members of the Abbey were on their way. Then Zaveid remembers---he was to stall Aifread until the others could come and surround the pirate so he couldn’t escape.

“They’re here to catpure you! You have to run!" Zaveid gets up and turns his head toward the noise. “They don’t know that I’ve woken up…I might be able to distract them!”

  
Aifread nods and turns his heel to run, but there’s an ambush. A group of earth malaks summon forth a great wall of rock to block his path. Coming from behind Zaveid are several praetors and Melchior himself, this wasn’t good. Zaveid looks at Melchior and then to Aifread---he had to save this man. He darts toward the pirate and jumps high into the air releasing a wind lance to cut the rock allowing Aifread an escape. He follows suite—the other memebers of the Abbey are termporarily immobile form the confusion. The Legate himself is in shock---what was his pawn doing? Zaveid casts windstep to speed their sprint but he’s tired from their battle---the extra boost doesn’t help much with the malaks tailing right behind them. _I can’t be caught again, I won’t, I have to find Theodora!_ They’re running in a field with little coverage for any attempts to hide. Aifread starts to slow and finally comes to a halt when they reach a ravine.

“Not my luck today I guess.” Aifread sighs, he takes Siegfried out of his coat once more and nudges the weapon against Zaveid’s chest.

“Take this with you. I don’t want the Abbey to get their grubby hands on it.”

“W-what?” Zaveid stares wide eyed at the weapon and then to Aifread.”

“He’s called Siegfried. Take these things with you too.” He digs in his pocket and reveals a large cartridge full of bullets. “They go in here see?” He quickly shows Zaveid how to reload the gun. “Shoot yerself with it and it’ll boost your power temporarily. Think you can put it to good use.”

“Wait, why me? We can still run.”

“I can’t make this jump, but you can. You have an affinity with the wind—plus I’m sure you don’t want to get caught again. Don’t have to worry about me, I’ll find a way to escape.” Aifread winks and pushes the gun against Zaveid once more. “I’m counting on you. Hadn’t had a fight like that in a long while.”

Zaveid takes Siegfried, he looks to the side and sees the Abbey just a little bit away. “You’re a pretty amazing guy, Aifread. Thanks…for saving me. I promise I’ll do the same for you.”

“Sure.”

“Also, my name…my name is Zaveid.”

“Zaveid, huh? That suits you more.”

 

Zaveid smiles as does Aifread. He gives one final nod to the pirate and turns around to leap over the ravine as a whirlwind. It’s the first and last time Zaveid sees Aifread as a human.

 

* * *

 

 

They can all see it, the shores of the far continent. The Van Eltia isn’t far from anchoring there and normally, Eizen wouldn’t be afraid of earthquakes. He’s an earth Malak after all. But they can see the tsunami coming for them from behind and neither Eizen or Zaveid had a very good affinity with water. Benwick is shouting for the crew to brace themselves. The ship itself was a sturdy one—odds are it wouldn’t be destroyed…entirely, what did matter was it capsizing and crushing crew members beneath its or the waves weight. Zaveid stands at the back of the Van Eltia, hands in front of him as he summons a barrier. Eizen joins him and together they force all of their mana into the magical hexagons taking form around the ship. Rokurou and Eleanor watch helplessly as the gigantic wave comes crashing down. The barrier shifts—a high pitched ring echoes around them and the two malaks grit their teeth under as they struggle to keep the barricade up. The Van Eltia shakes violently, the crew members grab hold of any foundation they can as the ship is rocked by the water. The helmsman grips the wheel tightly and he steers the ship’s course in a direction that wouldn’t cause them all to crash along the jagged rocks on shore; He aims for the tiny strip of beach with sand where they would hopefully meet the least amount of impact. They brace for impact.

            There’s a booming noise as they hit the shore. Everyone in the crew loses their footing, some crash into obstacles within the ship. The Van Eltia topples to its side as the water floods back into the sea. Eleanor managed to hug a beam with her arms and legs and only gets minor whiplash, she tumbles to the ground and groans. Rokurou’s face is in the sand, he had been tossed off the ship as they hit the shore along with some other members of the crew. Eleanor slowly gets to her feet and asks those around her if they’re alright. It seems they are, at least no one has major injuries. Then she remembers—Eizen and Zaveid! She peers up to where they should’ve been before the ship fell to its side. Her eyes dart back and forth but she doesn’t see them on shore. The exorcist runs into the shallow water and she can see Zaveid in the distance---but not Eizen. She watches from afar as the wind malak dives into the water.

            Under the waves he can make out the reapers figure below, there’s seaweed and algae tumbling around him; Eizen is struggling against the current, his paddles frantic as he reaches toward the light above. He see’s Zaveid and grabs at him in a panic---the wind malak is more than happy to lend him a hand as he grips Eizen’s and tugs him close by so they can resurface together. The reaper gasps once his head perks up from the water—he coughs and sputters as Zaveid jokingly tells him to kindly stop spitting in his face. The waves going toward the shore are still quite large but nothing compared to the giant tidal wave they just had to deal with. Luckily, moments before, the barrier had held up long enough to keep the Van Eltia safe as gravity forced it down---but when it did break the two of them slipped into the sea. When they finally arrive on shore Zaveid tosses Eizen in front of him who rolls onto his side in a wet heap. Rokurou and Eleanor rush over to see if he’s okay.

            “Geez, I can’t believe you’ve been a _pirate_ for this long and you can’t even swim!” Zaveid strokes back his wet locks with a laugh. “You’re crazy you know that?”

            “Shut...up.” Eizen pants. He tugs off his ebony coat and throws it into the sand with a huff.

            “I’m glad you both are okay, we just barely made it cause of you two.” Eleanor breathes a sigh of relief. “It seems like everyone else is more or less fine too…but the ship…”

            “She’s not too bad.” Eizen breathes as he looks up at the vessel. “I can use my artes to flip it back up. There’s a town a little ways from here—I’m sure Benwick can negotiate a way for us to get tools to fix whatever damage was caused to the ship itself.”

            “You’ve been to that city I presume?” Rokurou asks.

            “Aye, a good half of the crew has as well. Aside from the heavy dialect their language is quite similar to ours. Eizen smoothes his hair back from his forehead, a wet strand lingers between his eyes.

 

            Half of the crew stays behind to mend and defend the Van Eltia while the others go out in search of the town Eizen spoke of. They hike through a lush green forest, the aftershocks of the earth quake come and go but aren’t nearly as serious as the first. After a long trek of silence, Zaveid saunters up next to Eizen and nudges him with his elbow.

            “So…you really can’t swim?”

            “Not without a floatation device…Aifread tried teaching me but it never ended up well.”

 

            Zaveid chuckles at the mental image.

 

            “I’ll teach you to swim—my water artes are non-existent but I’m a pretty good swimmer _and_ I can use the wind to save you if you start drowning.”

            “I have a feeling you’d _like_ to watch me drown.”

            “Aw come on, I’m not a sadist! I’m sure Aifread must’ve been sad that his first mate was a sad little landlubber.”

            “Fine, but only if it’s the two of us...” Eizen realizes the words sounded awkward as they left his mouth---he didn’t want the others to laugh at his failures but….just the two of them??

            “Sure, it’s a date!” Zaveid laughs and runs on ahead to throw his arm around Rokurou to talk about something else.

 

Eizen’s stride slows considerably---why does his heart keep pounding so much. He couldn’t honestly…feel that way about…He looks up and sees Zaveid giving Rokurou a noogie. There’s no way.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In Berseria you can speak to an NPC in the church at Taliesan I believe and they'll mention something about the lost kingdom of Hyland---which means they must have resurrected it at some point before Zestiria???
> 
> *Also sorry for typos. Just did another edit! :(

Rokurou, Eleanor, and Zaveid look awestruck as they look around the city Undinia, it’s filled with tall stone monuments and brick buildings. Not unlike Loegres but the atmosphere was different, the place itself sat next to a large river and many boats came in and out of its harbor. Benwick and some of the other pirates were discussing repairs with a robust looking man with a heavy black beard. The fellow is a marine engineer, apparently, they knew each other—perhaps from the last time they visited Zaveid thinks. Eizen stands next to Benwick with his arms crossed, he looks a little distressed and when Zaveid uses the wind to listen in on their conversation he discovers that finding the right wood to fix the Van Eltia may prove to either very expensive or impossible. When asked why the man responds that the wood they used to make for ships like the Van Eltia belonged to a rare species of tree that grew only in a specific area to the east of the town. However, those types of ships had ceased to be made for the past fifty years.   Benwick presses, asking why it was so hard to get something simple like wood—the man frowns and in all seriousness states that there is a ghost there that has killed any who step in its domain. The trees bark was highly resistant to water and thus made for good ship making material.

The engineer states that he can fix their ship with other means but seeing as they journeyed from afar there was no guarantee if it could last the duration of the trip back. The young captain frowns, he knows the non-malak members of the Aifread pirates would insist on fending off what sounded like a daemon. Though he can’t see him, he feels Eizen’s glance. He doesn’t like the idea of relying so much on the First Mate, many of the battles they had been on since the death of Aifread were only won because of their invisible companion. The engineer continues—it appears that the last group of people who had left for the area never returned except for one heavily injured fellow. He had described the ghost as a tall and lean figured cloaked in black with a blade sharp enough to cut through massive stone.

Rokurou immediately listens in while Zaveid trots next to Eizen, giving him a mischievous look.

“Looks like we’re gonna take a little trip, huh?” He puts his hands behind his head.

“Seems like we’ll have to if we have any hopes of returning home…”

“I’m fine with wherever the wind takes me. Might be nice to explore just a little bit of this continent though, right?”

“It’s likely that the lands around the world will merge due to the awakening of the Four Lords. You can feel it too, right? The activity of the earthpulse beneath our feet?”

“Mm, well yeah. It’s still going to take a few hundred years though. Might as well get a leg up on knowing the world’s terrain now while we’re here. Besides—“ Zaveid takes out the map Eizen had given him and points to a mark on the map. There is swirl emblem and some ancient writing next to it. “I don’t know much about the old language but I’m pretty sure it says _Hyland_ as in that legendary city that disappeared a long time ago.” He reveals and watches the flicker of excitement in Eizen’s eyes. “Rokurou looks fired up too!”

The young man turns to him and nods. “A daemon that can wield a blade---sounds like its right up my alley. I call dibs once we find it!”

“Well, how shall we go about this _?_ ” Eleanor approaches them and places her hands on her hips. “We can’t be reckless if so many people were killed.”

“That’s what makes it exciting, no?” Rokurou chimes in, Eleanor sighs in return. “What about your crew?” He asks Eizen. “Want me to tell them that we’ll check things out first?”

“Yes, if you will. I’m sure Benwick will be organizing the crew to do small jobs around town for the cost of fixing the Van Eltia. We shouldn’t be gone for more than two or three days.”

 

            The following day the party of four leaves the town in search of the daemon. They walk beside a major canal in the direction of the supposed haunted lake. According to the townsfolk, the location was a two days hike away but luckily the path beside the water was smooth and the views spectacular. There were nothing but rolling green hills as lush forests, even the weather was pleasant.

            “I wonder if Maotelus’ blessing reached this far…we haven’t run into many daemons.” Eleanor states.

            “It’s possible, it seems as though the daemons and dragons we encountered on the islands were more secluded so maybe they gathered...or were driven there... I’ve been thinking that maybe this continent is home to one of the Empyreans too.” Eizen notes.

            “Would that even affect the kiddo’s blessing?” Zaveid asks.

            “Maybe, I’m sure his power travels through the earthpulse—and if the Empyreans have awakened the leylines beneath the earth would be more open.”

            “Hm, good point.” Zaveid takes out his pendulum and dangles it in front of him. “I did feel a lil’ something when we stepped foot out here earlier. To be honest I always thought the Empyreans were a legend.”

            “This age sure is strange isn’t it? Human, daemons, Malakim and Empyreans all existing at the same time…” Eleanor brushes a strand of hair from her face. “I’m glad we’re all traveling together…even if it’s not all of us anymore.” Her smile is melancholy.

            “Yeah well, in the end…I think Velvet would be happy with the outcome.” Rokurou scratches his chin. “I think Laphicet is happy with it too, it’s not perfect but it’s a hell of a lot better than what could have been.”

            “Agreed.” Eizen says.

            “Maybe we should all pay him a visit when we go back.”

 

The three men nod with smiles---but then laugh after they hear a rumbling sound coming from the exorcist’s stomach. Her face heats up.

            “Hungry?” Rokurou laughs.

            “I—Oh! This is embarrassing… I forgot to eat breakfast this morning and I—“

            “It’s fine, we can find something for you. I saw some animals running around a couple minutes ago.”

 

Rokurou and Eleanor hear a splash and turn to see a decently sized fish wrapped around one of Zaveid’s pendulums. He flings it at Rokurou, he makes a sloppy grab at the creature, it slips and flops around but he eventually hugs it still against his chest and grimaces.

            “You’re welcome!” Zaveid grins.

 

Eleanor watches as Rokurou expertly debones and fillets the fish. He has a pot of rice cooking over the camp fire which Zaveid had made with a fire arte. Eizen sat in the grass scribbling away at a piece of paper. The exorcist and swordsman knew better than to disturb Eizen when he was writing—Zaveid not so much.

            “What’s that?” Zaveid leans in to look at the letter, which Eizen pulls away to his chest.

            “Do you _mind_?”

            “A love letter?” He teases.

            “It’s to my _sister_.”

            “Oh! You telling her about how _handsome_ I am?” Zaveid waggles his brows.

            “You aren’t laying a finger on her. She’s too young for you!”

            “I’m sure even if we were the same age you’d throw a fit.” Zaveid shrugs. “When do I get to meet her?”

            “You don’t.”

            “Why?” Zaveid asks innocently.

            “Because.”

            “Because you’re an overprotective brother?”

            “Go away and help Rokurou cook or something.”

            “Fine, alright, alright.”

 

He leaves the blonde to his business and looks over to the other two. Rokurou is taking pieces of the fish and laying them atop small mounds of rice. Eleanor is awed by the dish he’s making, he explains that it’s sushi—a popular dish from where he’s from. The wind malak doesn’t wish to disturb them, instead, he finds the nearest tree and wind steps up to its highest point. He takes in a deep breath, the wind is smooth and inviting. It’s been a long time since he’s felt at peace like this---it was nice, traveling with companions.

 

They continue their trip alongside the river the next day---eventually, the scenery begins to change and the temperature drastically drops—the grass is dry and air chilled. The water that was flowing next to them crystallizes into ice and before long they’re standing before a frozen lake. Their breath comes out in small clouds, a few flakes of snow fall upon the icy scape. There are some traces of ruins sticking up from the ice---Remnants from the lost Hyland empire. In the center of the lake is a crumbling building---in it a lone worn sword standing atop an altar.

“I don’t see any trees here…” Zaveid mutters.

“You don’t suppose they’re all under the ice do you?” Eleanor takes in the view of the massive frozen body of water.

“Possibly…think we should try digging?” Rokurou jokes.

“I could use a fire arte---it’s not my element so I don’t know how well it’ll work.” Zaveid steps over the ice and stomps on it a bit. “Yep it’s frozen solid… Wonder how long it’s been like this.”

           

            A gust of cold air washes over the party—and a crash of malevolence erupts around them and they all turn to see a figure sprout from the ice. The being rose up and stood nearly eight feet tall, its body was slim—rather, boney and skeletal like. It wore a flowing cape that swirled like sinister black mist. The sword it wielded was a massive claymore, its edges ragged and chipped from years of usage---but even a dull blade would be exceptionally deadly when combined with malevolence.

            Rokurou smiles wickedly, his teeth flashing and eyes dilating. A true swordsman stood before him---he could feel its spirit. He draws his knives and assumes a pose to face off against the daemon. His heart beats with excitement—the last time he had had a real challenge was with Shigure…however even then he was unable to best him without his friends’ help. He knows his skills had improved in the last year and now was the time to test it out.

 

            “You all remember what I said before, right? This one’s mine!”

            “Yeah, we know. Just don’t get yourself killed---I can tell that thing is strong.” Eizen warns as he crosses his arms.

            “Yes, be careful Rokurou!” Eleanor pleads.

 

Zaveid switches his glance from the exorcist and malak and then to Rokurou---he’s a bit surprised to find them so accepting of letting Rokurou do this one on one, moreso of Eleanor. But he also understands that Rokurou had a lot of pride—probably why he was still a daemon himself.

 

The daemon dashes toward Rokurou—strangely, its steps are dead silent--- it makes a long sweep with its sword, the pressure from it erupts as an arte and it slices a good chunk of the ice clean from the ground. Rokurou dodges and whistles at the indent on the floor before him. He laughs and runs forward—clashing with the creatures enormous blade. The other three watch in silence at the duel. Rokurou is more swift and is able to dodge every attack the daemon makes, however, the daemon’s strength is great and one wrong move could cost the yaksha his life. After a broad swipe from the black mass, Rokurou leaps into the air and somersaults down to slash at the being---it connects and he lands. He frowns---the attack felt odd, when he looks back he notices that the wound he had inflicted begins to crystallize and scabs over with ice. He’d have to find another strategy---one that involved killing his foe in one fell swoop. Eizen shifts in his stance, self-healing wasn’t a common ability to see in daemons but he was confident in Rokurou’s ability to figure something out.

Out of the corner of his eye, Eizen catches a glimpse of something shining and turns to face it. It was the sword sitting atop on the ruin beside them. He felt some type of aura emanating from it.

            Rokurou takes in a deep breath and calms his mind. He puts away his daggers and slowly reaches for Stormhowl and draws it. Eleanor makes a noise of surprise. This is the third time Rokurou had decided to use it, the action is odd since the yaksha was opposed to using it before he felt he had truly surpassed his brother---it was also unlike him to use but one blade. Rokurou twirls it in front of him and readies himself as does the opposing daemon. A stray wind blows between their stand off and they wait for it to subside before sprinting towards each other. In a split second Rokurou sneaks a hand behind to quickly draw one of his daggers, he hurls it toward the daemon’s face. It has no choice but to deflect the weapon—Rokurou dives forward and swings Stormhowl and slashes the enemy.

            “He did it!” Eleanor cries.

But not quite. Rokurou sees that he’s cut the daemon but not in half like he had hoped---a normal human would be dead but ice quickly forms around the tear and seals it. Rokurou makes ready for the daemon to attack him once more---but suddenly it turns and springs in the other direction. He’s confused for a second but realizes that the damned beast was running toward his companions! Eleanor twirls her spear around and readies her defense as does Zaveid---However, Eizen only notices once Eleanor calls his name and by then the daemon is but a few steps away from him.

In the blink of an eye, Zaveid shoves Eizen out of the way---and is impaled upon the deamon’s blade in the process. The weapon pierces the upper side of his abdomen and his chest---he stares wide eyed at the metal in front of him. His hearing becomes fuzzy but he can make out a high pitched shriek from Eleanor and the yell of his name from Eizen. The daemon lifts the blade high—with Zaveid still attached and then swings it with such force that the malak flies off and hits a nearby boulder of ice with a thud and plummets down to the icy ground. It hurts. He can feel the blood trickling out of him—it dyes the ice a frightening crimson. Eizen screams out his name in anguish and rushes to the wind malak and rolls him onto his back---the gash from the sword is huge. He’s never been a decent healer---Laphicet took care of most of that during their travels---but he has to try or else Zaveid will…

            The wind malak spits up a bit of blood and winces at his torn insides, he feels so cold…the only warmth was from the warm golden glow of Eizen’s mana hovering about his chest. His breaths come in shallow pants and gasps… he tries to say the others name but to no avail… in the distance he can hear the clashing between Rokurou’s blade and the daemons once more but his vision blurs and it becomes hard to see who’s winning. Eleanor is next to him now—she takes off her jacket and wraps it around him tight—pushing her palms against his wound in an attempt to slow the bleeding. He feels bad---he doesn’t like to worry other people. Eizen looks absolutely miserable—he’s cursing up a storm under his breath and Eleanor looks pale and distraught. He tries to mutter something again—a raspy ‘sorry’—but Eizen barks at him to be quiet.

            Rokurou’s battle with the daemon draws near them. Eizen hears the crunch of ice a few feet away from him and spins around with an animal like snarl. Zaveid’s eyes flutter—his vision fading before watching as a black fog erupts from the reaper’s back---the silhouette resembles a dragons wings.

 


	10. Chapter 10

_Eizen gasps and the first thing he sees is the sky, he abruptly sits up and looks around. Theodora is sitting next to him, she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and avoids Eizen’s gaze and instead looks to the sea._

_“He’s going to be upset when he finds out.” She mutters._

_“Huh?” Eizen braces himself on his hands and scoots up to sit more comfortably. He’s not quite sure what he’s doing here._

_“The power you use from malevolence…I had the same problem, though I couldn’t control it as well as you do. The more I used it the quicker it consumed me…”_

_“It’s nothing to worry about. If it helps me win a battle it’s worth it.”_

_“Yes but—“_

_“It’s fine. Zaveid has already promised to kill me. And that promise stands whether I turn into a dragon tomorrow or hundreds of years from now.”_

_Theodora sighs and folds her arms. “You know, he might not seem like it but Zaveid’s actually a really sensitive man. He bottles up his feelings most of the time but I could always tell when he was worried or anxious about something. I think that’s why he likes to pick fights, helps him relieve his frustrations on things.”_

_“Childish.” Eizen scoffs._

_“Take care of him okay? He could use a good friend---or someone more.” Theodora smiles._

_“What do you mean?” Eizen furrows his brows and looks to her for an answer but he can’t hear what she says._

 

* * *

 

 

“Eizen…” Eleanor utters the Malaks name---she looks at the gaping hole in the frozen lake where he had unleashed a gruesome attack that massacred the daemon in one blow. His draconic drive had always been powerful but this was a new level of destruction. Was it because he had taken in more malevolence? She has a passing memory of the dragon known as Theodora. Eizen had taken in Zaveid’s former lover’s power…

            His blackened wings dissipate into the air and he breathes a heavy sigh as he tries to refocus his rage filled mind. The feeling is different from before—it’s more sinister and its potent pull grips his mind. He shakes his head—he wasn’t at the Cliffside with Theodora…That’s right—Zaveid— _he_ … Eizen turns on his heel and runs back toward the downed Malak, he practically knocks Rokurou and Eleanor out of the way as he skids across the ice and back to Zaveid’s side. His knees are on the ground, his pants soaking up the other’s blood. His hands shake as he holds up them up once more and tries to heal him---but he can’t get the arte to _work,_ he feels that familiar ache in his back after using his power. Was it preventing him from doing so?!

            “Dammit, dammit, **dammit!”** Eizen yells, he slips his hand under Zaveid’s back and holds him up. His head lulls and his skin is losing its color. “Hang in there, don’t you _dare_ die like this. You have a promise to keep!” Eizen’s voice is frantic, he looks to Rokurou and Eleanor and they’re just as distressed as he. That’s right, they _couldn’t_ heal! The blonde makes choked whine, what can he do? How can he save Zaveid?! The wind Malak’s pulse is slowing—he has to do something or else..!!! His eyes sting--- _please_..please someone **_help._**

 

            A humming noise echoes from above and they look up to its source. The sword on the ruin’s altar begins to glow---soon fire envelopes it and a light flashes before them. The figure of a woman emerges from the light, she floats down and her red shoes click on the ice. She has long light teal hair with pink gradients on the ends, a fire Malak. Her eyes are a bright green and her clothes contrast with red and white. She kneels down beside Eizen and looks at him curiously.

            “Let me help.” She raises her palms and closes her eyes in concentration. A white light emits from her hands as she hovers them over Zaveid’s wound---and slowly, the gash begins to close. Eizen holds his breath until it’s finally sealed. “His life is out of danger for now but he’s lost a lot of blood. It’s best for you all to find some shelter for the night.”

            “Thank you!” Eleanor says to the stranger.

            “No, I must thank _you_ all. I’ve had to seal myself in my vessel because that daemon had taken residence on this lake.” She stands up and bows. “My name is Lailah.”

            “Lailah, would you mind if we camped out here tonight? It seems like the icy winds have stopped for now…we can leave in the morning if that’s alright.” Rokurou asks.

            “Of course, come. You can use the interior above.”

 

She briefly looks at Eizen once more; he hasn’t taken his eyes off Zaveid. He gently scoops him up and holds him close, as he makes ready to follow the fire Malak. Lailah leads them up the crumbling infrastructure and into the temple where her vessel stood. With a wave of her hand the torches in the room light up and they all settle in the center of the room. Eleanor searches for what dry wood she can come by, she finds an old damaged bench and cuts it into pieces with her spear. It wasn’t much but it would be enough to hold them for the night, she lays the pieces in a pile on the ground. Lailah brings up her hand and blows—a few sparkles of red light erupt into tiny flames and light the wood. Rokurou is eyeing the interior of the ruins; the artwork that adorned the walls was unlike anything he had seen in Midgand. He’s surprised not to hear Eizen going on about it but then realizes the Malak is still tending to Zaveid.

            “Anything I can do to help?” Rokurou asks, but he knows there’s little he can.

            “No, I think he just needs to rest.” Eizen utters. He leans over to rub some of the blood off from Zaveid’s lips and then begins stripping the other’s jacket off; the vibrant green fabric was now for the most part, stained by blood.   Eizen takes off his own coat and gently lays it atop Zaveid. “ _Why did you push me out of the way_?” Eizen whispers.

            “That power you wield, you realize it’s dangerous.” Lailah intertwines her fingers together. “A Malak should never rely on malevolence for strength—if you keep doing that you’ll—“

            “I appreciate you helping my friend but what I do with myself is none of your business.”

            “I…” She looks at the reaper, his eyes are sullen and proud. “I understand. May I ask your name?”

            “Eizen. This is Zaveid.”

            “Eizen, may I ask what you all were doing here?”

            “Well, we were kind of on a mission to kill that daemon from before. See—we came from a different continent on this boat and well, it got damaged and according to some folks in town the only way to fix it is to gather wood from the trees that grow in this lake.” Rokurou explains.

            “Town? There’s a town? Where?!”

            “About a two days hike from here.” Eleanor quirks her head. “It’s fairly close, have you not seen it?”

            “Oh, I can’t believe it…. I’ve been waiting here for people to return to Hyland and they’re out settling somewhere else!” She pouts.

            “How long ago did Hyland fall?” Eizen asks, now interested.

            “It must have been..three…maybe four hundred years ago. There was a great flood and it destroyed this area leaving this lake as you can see."

            “Lailah, have you been here this whole time?” Eleanor asks.

            “Yes, well you see I was quite attached to the people of Hyland…I guess I’ve found it hard to leave.”

            “Don’t you want to see what else is out there?” Eleanor sits beside Lailah and watches the fire. “I know malaks can live for who knows how long but I can’t help but imagine how lonely it must be not to see anyone for years…”

 

Eizen thinks of his sister and feels a pang in his chest.

 

            “I do get lonely, yes. But until recently this continent was infested with daemons. It’s hard for me to fend them off on a solo journey.”

            “I see, well…we’re friends now right? Perhaps I can visit you or you can come with us?” Eleanor offers. “Maybe you can gain a new perspective by seeing the world! It certainly helped me! It would be fine, right Eizen?”

            “Well I…”

 

Suddenly, Zaveid stirs and they all perk up and shuffle to him, slowly he opens his eyes. His mouth tastes like iron and his body hurts. He blinks the blurriness from his eyes and his sight lands on an unfamiliar face, Lailah.

            “Am…Am I dead? Are you an angel?” Lailah blushes and sits up straight.

Eizen flicks the wind Malak’s forehead. “No you idiot, you’re lucky to be _alive_.”

            “Ow…Yup…if I was dead I wouldn’t be seeing your royal gloominess.” He chuckles, which wasn’t a good idea because it hurts his chest a little.

            “How are you feeling?” Eleanor asks.

            “Kinda sore…where are we?”

            “Inside a ruin. Lailah here brought us to rest for tonight. When we can head back tomorrow morning I’ll piggyback you if you need!” Rokurou offers.

            “Heh, we’ll see, thanks.”

 

The group gets settled for the night, Rokurou and Eleanor fill Lailah in on what had happened on the other side of the world in the past year and a half. She’s stunned to hear about the Shepherd, the Lord of Calamity, the awakening of the Empyreans, and the story of a boy named Laphicet and a woman named Velvet Crowe. She has never been to the other continent but the story of “Maotelus” intrigues her. Eleanor explains her reasoning for travel, to spread awareness for the existence of Malakim. The fire maiden is upset to learn about the enslavement of her kind, she hadn’t heard of such a thing. In their land there were those who would worship Malakim in exchange of blessings she explained. Eizen quirks an eyebrow that was an idea. It gets Eleanor thinking, maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea…in fact many places in Midgand could benefit from it! She asks Lailah to explain more to her but the Malak says she’ll save it for their travels back to the group’s home continent.

Eventually Eleanor and Rokurou fall asleep for the night followed by Lailah. Zaveid had been dozing off and on throughout the past few hours leaving Eizen alone to dwell on his thoughts. He sits on a broken down pillar by the fire and gazes at it. The memories of the day replay in his mind, he tries to think of where he went wrong. In the silence of the night he hears something shuffle and looks down to see Zaveid stir under his coat.

“You alright?”

“ _Mmnn_ , yeah. My back just got stiff is all…Why are you still awake?” Zaveid asks as he tries to sit up. He winces, causing Eizen to leave his spot and dart over to him.

“Careful.” Eizen places a hand on Zaveid’s shoulder and coaxes him to lie back down. Zaveid hums and does as he’s told---he snuggles against the warmth of the jacket reaper had laid on him. Eizen licks his lip and bites down; staring at Zaveid as he furrows his brow.   “Why did you push me out of the way?”

“Hm?”

“You got hurt because of me today.” He sits down beside Zaveid and leans an elbow against his knee. “You remember our promise, right? You’re supposed to kill me, how are you going to do that if you’re dead?”

“Hey, I’m alive aren’t I?” Zaveid grins but the answer doesn’t get through to Eizen. “I don’t know…my body just moved on its own.” He mutters.

“You’re always getting hurt protecting others…why don’t you worry about yourself for a change?”

Zaveid laughs at that. He’s not sure why. “Look at you being all soft and mushy.”

“I’m serious.” Eizen frowns. “As long as we’re traveling together I need you to worry more about yourself, if you got killed then I—“ Eizen voice wavers. “…I’d need to find someone else to off me when I turn into a dragon—and well, I’m not sure if Rokurou and Eleanor are up to the task. Especially if it’s years from now.”

“Say Eizen.” Zaveid interrupts. “Can I ask you something?”

“What?”

“Why did you kiss me, you know—way back when.”

 

Eizen feels his whole body freeze.

 

“I uh…”

“What, you thought I’d forget? No guy has ever just up and tried to make out with me before.” Zaveid looks at the ceiling as he speaks. “I’ve kind of been thinking about it lately. Do you have the hots for me or—“ He turns his head to look at a very red faced Eizen. “Do you?”

“I…was hoping you thought that was a dream.” Eizen mumbles. “Listen, I don’t know why I did it. I guess I felt bad at that time and it just…happened.”

“Why? Because I had gotten injured by Theodora?”

“Because…you were crying.” Eizen utters.

“And you thought that would make me feel better?” Zavied asks skeptically as he quirks a brow.

“No…I don’t know.” Eizen takes a deep breath. “Were you mad at me?” He looks down at the wind Malak.

“Not really. I was more surprised---I mean, I’ve never had a guy _hit_ on me before let alone kiss me. And well, it was kind of sudden you have to admit.”

“I could have timed it better.” Eizen admits, but then realizes maybe he shouldn’t have commented. It was implying that he would have kissed Zaveid sooner or later.

“Well, you haven’t won me over but…I think…you’re an okay guy.” Zaveid states awkwardly. “But I’m not all that into dudes you know! I’m a ladies’ man!”

“Right.” Eizen smirks.

“It’s true!”

“Is that why Theodora hit you when you both first met?”

“It was a love tap!”

“Sure.” Eizen leans back on his palms and looks to the fire once more. “Would it be alright…if I kissed you again?”

 

Zaveid shuffles under the weight of Eizen’s jacket and looks away. The others are still asleep.

  
            “You can say no.” Eizen gets up and crosses his arms.

“M-Maybe later.” Zaveid stutters.

 

Eizen looks at him surprised. So that wasn’t a definite no. He watches as Zaveid rolls away and settles on his side to go back to sleep but not before murmuring a goodnight.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When will Eizen and Zaveid kiss? The world may never know.


End file.
